


Distorted Worlds

by jakeroo123



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Dimensions, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2018-08-24 03:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8354344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakeroo123/pseuds/jakeroo123
Summary: After an attack on Peach's castle, Luigi finds himself in a new, unknown world. With new friends, strange occurrences, and trying not to stand out too much, how will this new adventure go? Meanwhile, Ash is having a rather literal blast-to-the-past, while trying to figure out why and how it's happening, and the Mushroom Kingdom faces crisis without its heroes.





	1. A New Adventure!

Lost. Hopelessly lost. Unbelievably lost. Probably somewhere dangerous, too, with an evil plot right under his nose, knowing his luck.

Luigi Mario was not having a good day, in short, not helped at all by the fact that he was quite hungry and the odds of something jumping out of nowhere and attacking him were very high (though this was nothing new). Not looking where he was going, he smacked face-first into a large boulder. He kicked it in frustration, turning it into half a dozen smaller boulders.

The various creatures which had been intending to give the man a little fright wisely decided to give him some distance.

The sounds of the fleeing creatures brought Luigi to his senses. “Right, right… Can’t let it get to me, that doesn’t do any good… What would Mario do?”

Find some random person who needed help, and put everything on hold to help with their problem. That wasn’t really relevant to being lost in an unknown forest, though… Whenever Mario was lost, he’d always turn right, and try to get as high as possible. Luigi wasn’t really coordinated enough to just jump into the trees, so that left trying to find a path, and taking a right turn whenever he could.

… While it seemed like it would get him turned in circles, he knew that it always worked out when Mario did it, so it was worth a shot anyway. He ran through the forest, ready to turn right at the first opportunity.

Two minutes later, he was in a ravine. Typical, really. Thankfully, cliffs were much bigger targets than tree branches, so Luigi was able to just jump out.

He landed right in the middle of a path, which was probably a lucky break for him. He turned to the right, and began walking down the path, letting his thoughts lead him. What had happened, to get him lost in the forest in the first place? Everything after going to bed last night was fuzzy, but it didn’t feel like anything unusual had happened. Considering what passed for normal in his life, that wasn’t exactly comforting.

He racked his brain a bit more, trying to see if he could figure out anything else. Peach had been there, along with a few other friends and enemies. Bowser, definitely… Someone in blue… Kamek? Had Bowser had some new harebrained scheme (no offense to actual hares) that he needed Kamek’s help for? Probably, but he had no idea which one. Off the top of his head, he could think of forty-six schemes where Bowser brought Kamek to the castle, and there were definitely more on top of that.

He looked up for a moment, and realized that he wasn’t in the forest anymore, or anywhere even close. He was walking through an idyllic little town, which seemed to be almost nothing but houses. All of the houses were pretty small, the size of Pipe House or just a bit bigger. It really was quite a pleasant town, especially with it being as quiet as it was this early in the morning.

There was an interesting looking building some distance away, bigger than the rest in town, with its own windmill. That meant it was probably important, and he might find some information there. It was a short walk, and soon he was in front of the sign for the building.

The sign didn’t seem to be in any language he could read. The characters looked sort of like Sarasa text, but they definitely weren’t, the symbols were much more curved, and he couldn’t recognize a single one.

It dawned on Luigi that the people here might not even speak English. He hadn’t seen any locals yet, so he didn’t even know what species they were… odds were, they’d never seen humans before, and if he couldn’t talk to them, they might assume he was a rampaging monster and attack.

… Mario would just walk up and say hi regardless. Luigi sighed. That was… Probably really the only way to get anything done in this situation. So he walked up to the door, and knocked.

There were a few crashes inside, and an old - _human!_ \- man in a white lab coat, red polo shirt, and khaki pants opened the door. “Oh, a new trainer! How exciting! … And early.  I’m quite sorry, my boy, I’m terribly busy right now, dozens of others are coming today for their starters, and I’ve got nothing set up. Here, come in, come in, let’s do this quickly.” He quickly dragged Luigi inside, to a trio of red and white balls on a table, each with a small picture of an animal next to it. “Alright, choose the one you want, and I’ll figure out where the Pokédexes have gotten to… A green one for you, I think.” He quickly left to another room, leaving Luigi alone.

He took a quick look around - He was in some sort of research lab, it looked like. It wasn’t dark and foreboding or cold and high-tech, as Professor Gadd seemed to prefer, it was actually pretty inviting. Everything was cluttered, it looked like the old man had been in a rush to do something. After getting over the shock of actually meeting another human, he turned his attention to the three balls on the table before him.

… What did he mean, pick the one he wanted? Apart from the pictures next to them - which he now saw were labeled with the same strange text as the sign outside - They were completely identical. A blue turtle, an orange lizard, and a green… Something.

Well, he did like the color green. Honestly he had no clue what was going on, but it was a bit rude to refuse a gift, so he picked up the ball of his choice. Not long after he chose it, the old man returned with a small device that reminded him a lot of the Game Boy Horror, only it was green and seemed to fold out.

“Bulbasaur! Good choice. I chose Charmander, myself, and I’m sure my grandson will choose Squirtle. Anyway, let me get this Pokédex registered for you and your Pokémon… Let’s see, name?”

“Uhh… Luigi Mario…” What in the world was a Pokémon?

“Date of birth?”

“October 11, 1981…”

“Fifteen. Quite a late start, but it’s good to be prepared. Home address?”

“Pipe House… Er, it’s kind of a shack in the middle of nowhere, so that’s it…” It hadn’t quite registered with Luigi that the old man had somehow come to the conclusion that he was ten years younger than he actually was.

“Alright. All registered. Here’s your Pokédex, and some Pokéballs to get you started,” He handed Luigi the green device, along with five more of the red and white balls. “Now you’re all ready for your Pokémon Adventure! Now, why don’t you go outside and get to know your Bulbasaur? I have to get this place ready to have a dozen ten-year-olds clamoring for their own Pokémon in two hours, so I don’t really have much time, I’m afraid!” He pulled Luigi back out, and rushed back into the lab.

Luigi was still completely and hopelessly lost, with no idea what he was doing, or what had just happened.

“… What even is a Pokémon?”

Unsurprisingly, he got no answer. Well, nothing for it, then, but to walk and try and figure out what the heck was going on. In theory, this seemed like a good idea, but in practice it was mostly wandering aimlessly through a forest and fiddling with his Pokédex to see if it would do anything.

Eventually it played a sound clip, identifying him as Luigi Mario, given a Pokédex by Professor Oak in Pallet Town.

“… What is a Pokédex, exactly?” Luigi wondered out loud. To his surprise, the device actually played a short recording, explaining its function - It was made to provide information in a readily-availible manner, and he simply had to point it at a Pokémon or other object for information. To try it out, he pointed it at the ball he’d gotten from Professor Oak.

“ _A Pokéball, a device used to transport Pokémon. The Pokémon can be released from the ball simply by throwing it, or they may come out on their own._ ”

... Were they toys? The ball was only about three inches across, he wasn’t sure what else it could be. Well, the only way to find out was to throw it, and it’s not like the professor would give something dangerous out to ten-year-olds.

He threw the ball, and it bounced on the ground, opening up into a flash of red light. As the ball bounced back into his hand, the light formed into a full-size version of the creature he’d seem a picture of in Oak’s lab… Bulbasaur?

“Uh… Hello.”

“Bulba.”

“My name is Luigi… Uh…” Luigi sighed. “Okay, to be honest, I’m really confused. My friends are missing, I’m lost, and nothing’s making sense. I just… Do you think you can help me, at all?”

“… Saur,” the creature said, nodding its head. “Bul, bulbasaur.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much, Bulbasaur.” Luigi picked up his Pokémon, giving him a hug. “Alright… So… Probably should retrace my steps, first. Let’s go!”

Luigi always felt better when he had someone else with him.

* * *

 

He should have known that it wouldn’t be that easy. By the time he’d managed to find another town, he’d already been nearly crushed by two boulders, chased by several flocks of killer birds, managed to get the attention of some crime syndicate by foiling some poachers with some weird motto, and may have accidentally kicked a rock into a spontaneous warp zone that promptly disappeared.

In other words, he wandered from one place to the next, surrounded by a whirlpool of weirdness and helping people along the way. A typical day in the life of a Mario Brother.

Honestly, with how the day had been going, he was surprised that he hadn’t accidentally stumbled onto a huge conspiracy yet.

This new town had a sign, which was just as unreadable as everything else he’d seen. Luigi frowned. Did they just use a different writing system? Or was it some cryptic conspiracy nonsense? He was probably thinking too far into it, but having been thrust into _Adventures_ from unlikely sources his entire life, he couldn’t be too careful.

“Bulbasaur Saurbul,” Bulbasaur said, from his spot in Luigi’s arms. It sounded like he was saying the name of something, probably this city.

“Well, I’m glad you know where we are,” Luigi said. “… Where are we?”

“ _Viridian City, the City of Evergreen._ ” The Pokédex stated. “ _Home of the Viridian Gym, led by Giovanni. The Gym specializes in Ground-type Pokémon. Directions to the Pokémon Center are available if needed._ ”

… He had no clue what that was. But, it was mentioned, so odds were, it was relevant, so he asked the Pokédex for directions. It took him down a few streets, but he was able to reach it in just a few minutes at a slow jog, careful not to go too fast because he was fairly sure that humans here didn’t have any powers. He wasn’t exactly sure _what_ powerless humans could and couldn’t do, but he couldn’t be that far off in his guess.

… Or maybe he could, because as soon as he reached the ‘Pokémon Center’, someone asked if he was one of the beta testers for those experimental super-fast running shoes that had been all over the news lately. He said yes, just to avoid suspicion.

The lady at the desk was very nice, although pink hair loopies were a new one on him. Even so, she offered him to rest his Bulbasaur and stay the night, an offer he gladly accepted.

As he lay awake in bed, he began to think that, maybe, this day wasn’t so bad after all. There hadn’t been any sort of disaster, and he’d met a new friend. Sure, he was still lost, but exploring new places was one of the better aspects of having a life of _Adventures_. Maybe things would go okay, he thought, as he smiled at the sleeping form of his new friend.

In hindsight, he _really_ should’ve known better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been some time. It's REALLY been some time (Although this is the first story I've posted on this website). I've had so many ideas, but so little I felt I could write. I decided that, until I can write five chapters of a story in advance, I just wouldn't post it online.
> 
> Well, I finally managed to. The first five chapters of this story are written, and I'll be posting them in the following days. So, this is a different take on a story idea I tried a while back - a crossover between the Mario games, and the Pokémon animated series. Now, to clear it up, even though it's in the next chapter: This is a story where Ash travels back in time, although he wasn't informed of it beforehand, and no one has any control over who remembers and when, all the while Luigi is trying to pretend to be a normal human while looking for his friends and a way home.
> 
> If I feel there's something important about my interpretation of the worlds, but doesn't really fit in the chapter, and might not be that important to the narrative, I'll try to mention it down here. For example, in the normal Mario world, the events of the Paper Mario games DID happen, but specific details are different from the games, because we only saw the events in the paper world, and vice versa.
> 
> The next chapter will focus on Ash, and of course, Pikachu will show himself.
> 
> EDIT: As it turns out, Mario and Luigi have an official birthday! Changed from March 10 to October 11.


	2. Another Day!

Over the two and a half years he’d been travelling, Ash had grown somewhat desensitized towards unusual situations. Or, rather, they were so common to him that it didn’t quite occur to him that he had experienced a very unusual journey.

When he woke up the same day Luigi arrived, the first thing that he noticed was not that he’d suddenly gotten shorter, or that his trophy and medals were missing, but that Pikachu wasn’t in his room with him.

The only logical explanation was, of course, Team Rocket, because there was no way his best buddy would wake up before he did. So Ash did the only reasonable thing, and jumped out his window to slide down the tree outside.

As soon as he was on the ground, he started running towards Professor Oak’s lab, thinking Team Rocket would probably head there next.

By the time he reached the Professor’s lab, he was panting heavily. It had been a while since he was home, he’d only returned from Kalos yesterday morning, but he definitely didn’t remember the run being this tiring.

The big Meowth balloon was nowhere to be seen, but Ash wasn’t sure if that meant Team Rocket wasn’t here yet, had already left, or were in some sort of disguise. It was probably best to check here first, just to be sure.

He knocked on the door, to be greeted by a rather tired-looking Professor Oak. “Ash? My boy, you’re late! It’s nearly noon!”

“It is?” Ash hadn’t noticed. Pikachu… might have snuck off to find some ketchup, if it was really that late. “Sorry, professor. Is everything okay? Has Team Rocket been around? Do you know where Pikachu is?”

“Team Rocket? Pikachu?” The professor asked. He seemed rather nervous, oddly. “I’m afraid I don’t know of a ‘Team Rocket’, and I don’t know which Pikachu you’re referring to.”

“Team Rocket, that’s always following me around, trying to steal my Pikachu,” Ash said. “… He’s been my best friend for … Well, forever, ever since you gave him to me when I started my journey.”

Professor Oak’s eyes widened. “… Celebi… Oh, gosh… Ash, come inside. Now.”

Professor Oak insisted on getting Ash some tea before talking to him about anything. After fixing tea, he came into the lobby and sat down on a couch across from Ash, placing a familiar Pokéball on the coffee table.

“Hey, that’s Pikachu’s ball,” Ash noticed. “What’s that doing here?”

Oak sighed. “Ash, have you had any encounters with Celebi recently?”

“About eight months ago in Crown City,” Ash said. “I called you about it - The thing with Kodai, and that Zoroark…”

“… That can’t be it…” Oak said. He sighed again. “Ash, I think you’ve somehow travelled back in time, or at least your memories have... Today is the day you’re supposed to start your journey.”

“… How’s that work?” Ash asked.

“I honestly don’t know. Nothing that happened with Celebi was anything like this…”

“Not Dialga, either,” Ash said. “… Wait, you know Celebi?”

“… Er, yes.” Well, looks like Ash might have figured it out. “I… may have travelled with Celebi to the future about forty years ago.”

“… Huh. Alright,” Ash said, oblivious to the implications. “… Well, I’m glad you got back! Dunno what anyone would do without you.”

“…Right.” It was often difficult to gauge Ash’s intelligence, and this sort of thing was one of the reasons why. “I realized… You mentioned Dialga?”

“Oh, yeah! I kept running into it in Sinnoh.”

“… Only you,” Oak shook his head. “So, Dialga can’t do that, either… Very strange. I’ll need to look into this.”

“And I’ll go on my journey again!” Ash exclaimed, jumping up and striking a pose before calmly sitting back down. “… We should probably let Pikachu out of his ball, he doesn’t like it. The first time, he was really angry about it.”

“Really? This Pikachu?” Oak asked. “It’s normally quite mellow… I’ll let it out, then.” He released Pikachu onto the coffee table, ready for anything…

Pikachu was still asleep as he came out of the ball. Ash immediately nudged him to try and wake him up.

“Be careful Ash, it won’t remember you.”

Pikachu swatted at Ash’s hand, grumbling something about it being too early to get up. He stood up anyway, rubbing his eyes. He took one look at Ash, and jumped backwards in shock. “Pikapi?!” He started panicking, and it just got worse when he got a good look at himself. He poked his stomach, and started freaking out more.

“Pikachu! It’s alright, buddy!”

Pikachu turned to Ash, and demanded to know what was going on.

“… Well, you see, I… Uh, travelled back in time, I guess.”

Pikachu stared for a few seconds, before placing a paw on his forehead. “Pika…”

“Remarkable…” Professor Oak said. “… It seems it does remember you. And… You can understand it?”

“Well, not exactly…” Ash said.

“Pi,” Pikachu affirmed.

“It’s more like I just get this feeling what he means…”

Pikachu rolled his eyes, and said something about Ash selling himself short.

“Regardless, you two have remarkable communication,” Professor Oak stood up. “Now… You should probably head home and finish getting ready. I’ll prepare your Pokédex, and get a X-transceiver, so we can keep in contact while you’re out. Normally, I wouldn’t give those out, due to costs... but considering your unusual situation, I think it’s necessary.”

“Oh, thanks, Professor!” Ash said cheerfully, Pikachu jumping onto his shoulder as he stood. “I’ll be back before you know it!” He ran out the door with his longtime partner.

Right now, Ash reminded Samuel Oak a lot of the boy he’d admired in his youth, but even the boy he knew reminded him more of the Ash of yesterday than the one of today.

… Just how much had Ash travelled, and how much had he experienced? The way he talked about meeting _Dialga_ , of all Pokémon, like it wasn’t anything big or unusual, suggested there was a lot more going on than he’d imagined.

* * *

 

A few reminders about underwear and a lot of laughter from Pikachu later, and Ash was dressed up and on the road again.

Once he’d stopped laughing, Pikachu asked Ash if he should’ve told his mother about this whole mess.

“I don’t want her to worry, buddy,” Ash said. “I mean, I know she’s awesome, but still… I can take care of myself.”

Pikachu scoffed.

“I can! You’ve been there with me the whole time.”

Pikachu sighed. Then, he thought of something, and asked Ash. “Pikachu-pi? Pika-chu?”

“… Huh. Well, I guess we’ll probably run into them again,” Ash said. “I don’t know if they’ll remember all of our adventures together, though. Man, that’d be weird… What if you never ended up frying Misty’s bike?”

Pikachu insisted that wasn’t his fault, they were being attacked by a huge flock of killer birds.

“We should try and avoid that this time…”

Pikachu did, however, agree with that. He didn’t exactly need Ash to prove himself again.

They walked down the road a while longer, in relative peace.

“It’s a lot nicer this time.”

“Pi,” Pikachu agreed. “… Pikachu-pi!” He pointed excitedly at a figure down the road.

True to Pikachu’s words, Misty was, indeed, some way down the road, quickly riding her bike towards them.

“Ash Ketchum!” She yelled, just before bringing her bike to an abrupt stop just before them. “What did you do?!”

“Hi, Misty! Well, you see…”

“Never mind, I know it’s going to be some crazy story involving legendary Pokémon that couldn’t happen to _anyone else_ , sending us back in time for some vague reason! Let me guess, the world is in danger, and you have to save it? Well, not without me, mister! Now, tell me what we’re doing!”

“Oh, um…”

“Pika…”

“We actually aren’t really sure what’s going on,” Ash admitted. “It just happened, so…”

“You’re just going to do your journey again, hoping you’ll stumble on the reason all this happened?” Misty guessed. “… Considering everything that happens to you, that’ll probably work, but it’s not really the best plan.

“Oh… You know, I actually hadn’t thought of that,” Ash laughed. “So, how’s everything been going?”

“Well enough,” Misty said. “The Gym was just starting to regain some of its reputation after my sisters ruined it… Brock came by to help out a lot, and I met your other new Gym Leader friend, Cilan. He’s an… _interesting_ character, but a nice enough guy. I forgot how boring life is when not being dragged on yet another adventure by you, but I was still pretty happy. I’m glad to be back to travelling, though, at least for a little while. I could use some excitement.” She (somehow) managed to fit her bike into her bag, and began walking towards Viridian City at a brisk pace.

“I think you’re exaggerating how much stuff happens around me. I mean, weird stuff happens to trainers, that’s just how it works, right?” Ash asked.

“I guess,” Misty conceded. “But trust me, you’re the weirdest of the weird.”

“Pi, Pikachu,” Pikachu agreed. “Pika!”

Misty looked up towards the sky. “You know, it’s kind of weird. I could’ve sworn there was a thunderstorm around this time the first time, but the sky’s totally clear, except for…” Misty gaped at the sky. “… That… rainbow… and the bird…”

“Oh!” Ash looked up, seeing the same beautiful sight he had his first day as a trainer, the legendary bird Ho-Oh flying through the sky and creating a stunning rainbow. “Yeah, wonder why that is.”

“Ash. That’s Ho-Oh.” Misty said. “A legendary Pokémon from Johto.”

“Yeah, that happened last time!” Ash said.

“… You know what, I’m not even surprised.”

“I’m kind of sad I never got to meet it… I bet it’s really cool!”

“… That’s actually really surprising. You saw a legendary Pokémon, and _didn’t_ end up befriending it?” Misty laughed. “And I think you mean it’s really _hot_ , Ash!”

“… Pika…” Pikachu groaned.

“No, wait, you’re the Not-So-Sacred Ash!” Misty laughed at her own joke. “The only legendary Pokémon that’s never come up to meet you!”

“Hey, that’s not true. Raikou never did.”

“Raikou? You’ll have to tell me that story. And all of your adventures since that whole mirage thing! Seriously, you need to tell me more stuff, gym-sitting is boring and tough!”

“Uh, okay,” Ash said. “What do you want to know?”

“Just tell me everything. It’s going to be a few hours before we reach Viridian, anyway.”

* * *

 

A young man with lavender hair and a young woman with implausible magenta hair, along with their friend the talking cat, were staked out on the roof of the Viridian City Pokémon Center. With them were two more, a small purple snake, and a floating ball of gas and cheerfulness.

“Dis is real screwy, guys,” Meowth said to his companions.

“Indeed… We have somehow come back in time…” James replied, taking the development in stride.

“Somehow, this is the twerp’s fault, and I can’t even think of a rhyme!” Jessie yelled, as her resolve had failed.

“Just remain calm, I’m sure it’ll work out,” James said. “At least Abrok and Weezing… Or Ekans and Koffing, are back.”

“True…” Jessie said, hugging her snake. “Oh, my sweet little Ekans, how I’ve missed you so! It’s been so long…”

Ekans hissed something.

“He’s glad ta see you too, Jess,” Meowth translated. “Da real question is, why’d this whole thing go down?”

“Koffing!”

“Well, yeah, it’s probably somethin’ ta do with the twoip,” Meowth admitted. “But what do we do about it?”

“Follow the twerp!” James said, posing.

“Catch Pikachu!” Jessie added, joining in.

“Of course, dat’s true,” Meowth agreed. “What else would we do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second Chapter! So, Ash and Pikachu, of course. If Ash jumping out of a window because of Team Rocket seems weird... He's actually done that before, in the episode he first meets Alain, I believe.
> 
> Pikachu used to be kind of pudgy... Which is a bit of a shock to a Pikachu that doesn't know it's coming. Ash can't understand him perfectly, but he's very good at it.
> 
> Misty! ... I don't really have any strong feelings towards her one way or another, and I hope that she's alright.
> 
> Anyway. Any and all instances in the series referring to time passing, or not passing, are promptly ignored. Roughly one year passes for every eight years of real time. Ash, starting his journey on April 1 and turning eleven on May 22, comes into Kalos having just turned thirteen, and is still thirteen on his return.
> 
> While I was working on this story, Nintendo actually announced crossover merchandise for Mario and Pokémon. Mario Pikachu! ... In Japan only. Pikachus wearing outfits of the Mario Brothers. It's both cool and kind of cute.
> 
> I don't think I'll be posting the next chapter tomorrow. I'll probably want to make some revisions, and possibly write Chapter 6 before posting it, as well. I will say that the focal character next will actually be Pikachu, at least for most of it.
> 
> Also, these guys. I can't tell who they are, they're wearing sunglasses.


	3. Double Trouble!

By the time Ash and Misty reached the Viridian City Pokémon Center, it was very late at night. Misty had listened to all of Ash's stories, every now and again offering comments. She was taking it fairly well - She seemed to find humor in most of his adventures, but every once in a while she was really impressed by something. Only once was she really skeptical, and that was during the whole story about Arceus and time travel.

Pikachu had tried to participate as well, but Ash missed things every once in a while, and Misty only had vague ideas of what he was saying. He'd mostly kept to just sitting on Ash's shoulder, thinking about their adventures. He'd had strange adventures before meeting Ash, of course, but he'd had at least ten times as many in the time since they'd met than in the rest of his life.

Once Ash and Misty had settled into a room, Pikachu began thinking back to how their journey had started the first time. He'd been in pretty bad shape for this part, and he was glad he wasn't terribly injured on his first day again. He'd be quite happy to live a long and happy life alongside Ash, thank you very much.

On that note, apparently Ho-Oh hadn't been a pain-induced hallucination, as he'd suspected at the time. He hadn't really believed it was anymore after a month or so of witnessing the combined power of his and Ash's luck, but it was nice to confirm that the first crazy thing that happened was not, in fact, crazy. Or something like that.

What had happened at this Pokémon Center, again? Oh, right. Officer Jenny on a motorcycle, Team Rocket attacking, and him accidentally blowing it up with ThunderShock.

"(Ash, do you think Team Rocket will attack again?)"

"Hm? Oh, I dunno, buddy. If they do, we'll pull through, like we always do!"

"(… Yeah.)" Pikachu said. "(Do you think they came back in time, too? If they hadn't, wouldn't they have shown up by now?)"

"… Uh… Them too? Maybe, I dunno. I guess they'd probably have shown up by now if they hadn't, huh? Well, they'll probably be around before too long…"

"(They're persistent.)"

"I guess so." Ash yawned. "G'night, Pikachu. Sweet dreams." As always, Ash fell asleep easily, and was quickly snoring away.

Misty was looking over towards Ash and Pikachu's bed. "… Wow… You two really get each other, don't you?"

Pikachu nodded, remembering Misty couldn't understand him.

"… He's changed so much since I saw him last, but he's still Ash." Misty sighed. "Pikachu, I really don't know what's going on, or what'll happen when we get through whatever this is. So, keep Ash safe for me, okay?"

Pikachu nodded. "(Always.)" Ash was like the brother he'd never had, after all. It didn't matter that they were different, because they were the same in the ways that counted.

Misty went to sleep, too, but Pikachu was having difficulty sleeping. Even if he wasn't freaking out anymore, having the last few years of his life just being  _undone_ , with nothing but memories to show for it, was a lot to take in. Having Ash around definitely made it better, if he wasn't…

Pikachu didn't doubt it would've been even worse than the months he'd spent alone before Professor Oak took him in. All those years ago, he'd really been too young to understand what he had left behind, but he'd built a lot with Ash.

Gosh, it wasn't like him to think this way. Ash was handling it fine, and they were probably right to think that they'd run into someone involved pretty soon. He really should try to get to sleep…

A few minutes later, something happened. Ash and Misty were still asleep, and Pikachu was finally starting to nod off, when the window opened. Something Pikachu's size darted in, pulled him into a tiny glass ball, and darted back out.

This was enough to wake Pikachu up, and by the time he was really processing what was going on, his kidnappers had taken place in front of his prison.

"Prepare for trouble, we're at it still!" Jessie announced.

"And make it double, forget we never will!" James continued.

"To protect the world from free Pikachu!"

"We're back in time, and we've got you!"

"To announce our presence from time and space!"

"To see the dumbfounded look on your face!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, faster than the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, you'll lose this fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!" Meowth jumped in to finish the motto.

Pikachu was mostly ignoring this, looking for a way out of his little prison. No way would they forget to electric-proof it… Would he still be able to use his other attacks? No, there wasn't really room to do anything.

"Do you think he forgot us, Jess?" James asked.

"Maybe so… This is our first meeting, I guess."

"I'll sort this mess." Meowth said. "Hey you, Pikachu! Remember us?"

"(Yes. I'm busy.)" Maybe there was a weak point he could hit? They couldn't have had too long to build this one.

"Apparently, he don't got the time for this."

"Oh, how ignorance is bliss!" James said.

"Nothing you do will make us miss!" Jessie yelled. "We've got you in the bag, no twerpish tricks!"

"No more Pokémon in this mix!" Meowth added.

Did they always have to rhyme? The container seemed pretty sound from the inside… He could try rolling it off the roof, but that might be painful.

"Aw, how cute," James said.

"There's no escape," Jessie added.

"We'd love to watch you try!" Meowth's contribution.

"But soon it's time to fly!" All three said in sync, and then proceeded to laugh smugly all at once.

 _How is this not waking anyone up?_  Pikachu wondered. Just as he had that thought, a gloved hand appeared at the edge of the roof, and a boy around Brock's age vaulted up to the roof. He was dressed like a plumber, wearing a green hat and blue overalls, with blue eyes so bright they seemed to glow and a comically large nose.

Team Rocket didn't notice him, they were too busy with their - incredibly long - laughing session.

The boy stayed low to the ground, and looked like he was planning, considering his options. That was good - Sometimes there was a time for Ash's type of heroics, and sometimes there was a time for something subtle and clever.

After about half minute - including a short break by Team Rocket to catch their breaths before resuming their laughter - He seemed to come to a decision. He pulled off his cap - Pikachu was just barely able to notice the Unown 'L' character on it, and wondered what that was about. The boy reached in, and pulled out… Nothing. He began silently freaking out, and trying fruitlessly to pull something out. When that failed a few more times, he placed the hat back on, and tried the front of his overalls, to the same results.

Team Rocket, amazingly, still hadn't noticed him. Pikachu wondered if they'd send out their other Pokémon just to have a laugh with them - It honestly wouldn't surprise him.

Mr. L - as Pikachu had decided to call the boy - slowly stood up and got into a pose that suggested he was just going to make a mad dash for Pikachu and hope for the best. Sometimes, it seemed, the clever solution was acting like Ash.

Mr. L never got the chance to, because Bulbasaur - of all Pokémon - suddenly vine-whipped up to the roof with a cry of "(Vine whip to victory!)"

"What the…" This actually got Meowth's attention. "It's the twerp's Bulbasaur!"

"That's off script!" James yelled.

"(Razor leaf, you hooligans!)" Bulbasaur yelled, promptly blasting them off with said attack.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" They yelled their usual catchphrase as they flew into the distance.

"Bulbasaur, what was that?" Mr. L looked uncomfortable. "… Are they going to be okay?"

"(They always are,)" Bulbasaur said, nodding. Mr. L seemed relieved. "(Don't worry about them. Hey, Pikachu! What are you doing back in Viridian City?)"

"(Well, we were planning on visiting with everybody, and then going to Alola,)" Pikachu explained. "(Then things got complicated. Long story short, time travel.)"

"(Time travel?)" Bulbasaur asked. "(… Well, that's interesting… I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. That explains why you look different…)"

"(Yep. Today's the day I first met Ash,)" Pikachu said. "(… Well, it might be past midnight by now, so maybe not.)" He ignored the bit about looking different, and took solace in the fact that he was still adorable no matter what age he was.

"(… Very interesting. So that's why Oak gave me to a new trainer…)" Bulbasaur said.

Pikachu gave him a look. "(Samuel gave you to a new trainer, and you're  _just now_  finding it weird?)"

"(Okay, I didn't question it, the guy seemed really lost and stressed out. I figured I'd help him out, see what was going on later.)"

"(Alright…)" Pikachu was still apprehensive, but that did make a sort of sense. "(I never knew you were at Oak's in the first place, and I lived there a  _long_  time.)"

"(I wasn't.)" Bulbasaur said. "(I lived in the Hidden Village my whole life.)"

"(… What?)" Pikachu asked. "(Okay… That's strange. So that means…)"

"(There's something weird going on here. Not just time, but space, too. Maybe more.)" Bulbasaur said. "(… Have you had any contact with legendaries that can do that?)"

"(Well, there was Arceus a couple of months back, but we didn't actually talk to him this time.)"

It was Bulbasaur's turn to give Pikachu a look.

"Somehow I feel like I'm missing something important…" Mr. L said. "… And I'd like to get to sleep before something dangerous happens."

"(That implies there was another time that you did talk to the Alpha Pokémon.)"

"(… We did. Long story.)"

"(They're all long…)" Bulbasaur said. "(… And of course you did.)"

"(Yeah…)" Pikachu rubbed his neck nervously. "(You know Ash…)"

"(I do… It's been good to see you, Pikachu. I think Luigi wants to get back to sleep, so take care, and don't let Ash do anything too crazy.)"

"(I don't think that's possible, but I'll try anyway,)" Pikachu said. "(Take care, Bulbasaur. See you soon.)"

* * *

Mario Mario leapt from tree to tree in pure bliss. Sure, he may not know where he was, or how he got here, but it was always fun to explore a new place. He'd already seen so many interesting creatures - This forest was a goldmine of new experiences. He'd even put on a bit of a pyrokinesis show for some local yellow mouse creatures, which they seemed to enjoy.

Honestly, it was a bit weird that he was suddenly be a teenager again, but it didn't really matter.

He looked up at the sky, noting the stars out and about. Looked like it was probably early morning by now - He should really find somewhere to camp out for the night, but it was just so interesting here.

He heard a noise - Very quiet, and something that most people would ignore if they didn't know what it was. Something large - Or, at least, human-sized - was levitating through the forest. Mario jumped through a few more trees, noting that the levitating creature was following him. He dropped out of the trees, on alert but making sure to keep his knowledge of the creature hidden.

Mario was strong, and he knew it, but he was also all too aware of his weaknesses. There were very few things he'd encountered able to stand up to him, but he attributed that to always being prepared to fight a stronger foe. Even with all his strength and wit, Bowser had come very close to beating him more than once.

He ran through the forest for a few seconds, as quickly as he could without tiring too fast. Whatever this thing was, it was still following him, and able to keep up an impressive pace. He couldn't out-speed this thing, but he might be able to catch it by surprise.

Mario quickly stopped and turned on the spot, just to be clocked on the head by a small metal object. Mario shook his head to clear the momentary pain and glared towards where he'd heard the wind. All he saw was a vague humanoid silhouette before his vision whited out, and he knew no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3, here we go! So, I've been writing ahead... Re-writing a few things, too. This chapter changed quite a bit - originally, when Luigi showed up on the roof, it was from his POV, rather than staying with Pikachu.
> 
> Though Pikachu calls Professor Oak "Samuel", he hasn't made the connection with Celebi, he's simply known the professor for a long time.
> 
> As some things are the same, others are different. What lies in store?
> 
> Oh and here's Mario. He'll be back. He's different from his brother - Mario wears his heart on his sleeve, and is happy-go-lucky and sincere through and through. He's still got the instincts and skills of a hero and fighter, and is far more observant than most assume.


	4. Making Friends

Luigi awoke early - In spite of getting up in the middle of the night to try and fend off some robbers, he was feeling refreshed enough to get on his way. He carried the still-sleeping Bulbasaur down to the lobby, and was greeted by the nurse.

"Good morning! Aren't you an early riser?" She asked.

"Not usually," Luigi said. "Had a weird day… and night."

"I understand. I wouldn't suggest leaving right now - There's an emergency at the Gym, so things are pretty chaotic out there, and, of course, the Pokémon Center provides complimentary breakfast and dinner to trainers staying the night! Breakfast starts in an hour, so you might as well find something to do until then."

"Oh… Alright. Thanks, miss."

"Nurse Joy," The nurse said, smiling. "You're really quite new, aren't you?"

"I just started yesterday."

"Must be interesting, coming so far to start a journey."

"Huh?" How could she have figured that out?

"Oh! Your accent… It's very unique."

"Oh." Right, the mysterious Mario accent, and the foolproof (although not koopa-troop-proof) way to identify a Mario Brother. "Yes, I've come a long way." Not that he knew how far Mushroom Kingdom was… Or even if he was on the same planet, which was looking very unlikely with how many humans seemed to be here.

Nurse Joy smiled. "Well, best of luck to you!"

Luigi nodded, and walked back into the room he'd stayed in for the night. An emergency… Should he check that out?

… No, the police could probably handle it. They were trained, and they weren't Toads, so… They should be able to handle things, right?

He took a quick shower (so much easier and more pleasant than finding a waterfall to swim in), but couldn't get it off his mind. He wasn't paying much attention as he looked into the mirror to freshen up, trying to process everything.

When he did finally take a good long look to make sure he was looking okay, he got the shock of a lifetime. Embarrassingly, so did the rest of the bathroom, and he was quickly having to put out the fires his discharge had started.

After doing his best to make sure no further damage would come to the bathroom, he quickly got on to freaking out about suddenly being ten years younger. The first things out of his mouth were several sentences in Yoshi language that don't bear repeating.

Once he'd managed to calm down a bit, he began thinking - more rationally - about _how_ this could possibly have happened. One of Kamek's curses would have worn off by now, he didn't feel the power that came with transformation, and he'd never taken to shapeshifting the way Mario had.

That only left one logical explanation: He'd somehow been warped through time and space. Which would explain a lot, and was more in line with how his life tended to work.

Upon exiting the bathroom, he found that Bulbasaur was no longer in the room. Luigi did wonder how Bulbasaur was able to open the door on his own, but didn't really dwell on it. If Bulbasaur wanted to explore or socialize, then he couldn't do much to stop the Pokémon.

Luigi recalled seeing a television down in the lobby - It might be helpful in learning more about this world (and he was quite sure he was in a different world by now), or just be entertaining. Possibly entertainingly bad, like the five dozen or so films based on Mario's life (A lot of them seemed under the impression that the Bros used super-advanced technology instead of magic, to be more exotic, and about two-thirds of the films that remembered Luigi existed got his name wrong).

The TV actually did provide useful insight - Pokémon battles were a very big thing here, being a source of enjoyment for both Pokémon and humans alike. Luigi watched one on the TV, and found that it was a lot more relaxed and less dangerous than the fights he tended to get into… There were more after that, so he kept watching, hoping to learn more about this Pokémon world.

* * *

 

Pikachu awoke to scratching on the door. Ash was still asleep, and so was Misty, so he went to answer. It took a bit of creativity to manage to reach the knob, but he managed as well as he always did. Bulbasaur tumbled into the room, and Pikachu hopped off the doorknob to greet him.

"(Hello to you too, Pikachu,)" Bulbasaur said. "(I don't think my trainer is human.)"

Pikachu laughed. "(What did he do?)" He remembered just how many of Ash's Pokémon questioned if he was really human with all the crazy stuff he tended to do. The time in Johto where he temporarily was a Pokémon had proved very entertaining with that mindset.

Bulbasaur gave him a look. "(I'm serious. It sounded like he attacked the bathroom.)"

Pikachu woke up Ash for a few seconds so he'd know that he was going, and then followed Bulbasaur to the room his trainer had apparently been staying in. He wasn't around, but the bathroom door was wide open, and it was immediately obvious that something had happened in there.

Everything was singed, and the whole room smelled like a powerful electric attack had gone off. Pikachu could sense that anything wet or metal was charged with dangerous amounts of electricity, and quickly went to work draining as much of the excess as he could.

"(Something fried this place, that's for sure,)" Pikachu said.

"(And only Luigi was in here. So, I don't think he's human.)"

"(You'd be surprised what humans can do,)" Pikachu said. "(Ash has got some weird abilities, too. I've never really seen anything like this, though.)"

Bulbasaur was skeptical. "(… I still think he's a Pokémon. Are there Pokémon who can look human?)"

"(Zorua and Zoroark, but not much else.)" Pikachu had finished getting the excess electricity from everything, sans the toilet water.

"(Do they learn electric attacks?)"

"(No, but neither of us has the right to talk about what Pokémon can and can't do.)" Pikachu countered.

"(… Touché…)"

"(He could've also been incredibly unlucky and caused the wiring to go haywire, frying everything in the bathroom.)"

"(Oh…)" Bulbasaur seemed a little disappointed at that. ("Wouldn't he have been shocked, too, then?)"

"( _Ash_ ,)" Pikachu pointed out. "(Whether it's superpowers or terrible luck, your trainer is now weird, and therefore you will inevitably end up travelling with us.)"

Bulbasaur wasn't entirely sure if he liked that idea or not, remembering just how much trouble Ash managed to get into on a daily basis.

* * *

 

While Pikachu and Bulbasaur had been checking out the damage Luigi had accidentally done to the bathroom, the man - or teenager, now - in the green hat had gotten into a conversation with a certain Pokémon trainer, about the intricacies of Pokémon battling.

Ash Ketchum was quite enthusiastic to talk about his favorite topic, and the conversation even continued beyond Misty joining them (she added a few things of her own, but Ash was on a roll), getting breakfast, and being joined for breakfast by their respective starter Pokémon.

"So," Ash said, between bites. "That's the basics. Where you heading, anyway? Gonna take on the Pokémon League?"

"Ah, no…" Luigi said, as he scarfed down pancakes. It'd been some time since he'd had a decent meal he hadn't cooked himself. "I'm actually looking for a couple of friends of mine." _And a way home,_ he silently added. "I'm not really sure where they've gotten to." _Or which ones are even around…_

"Oh… Well, that settles it!" Ash said. "I'm going just about everywhere, so you can just come along with me! We'll find your friends in no time!"

Misty groaned. "Ash, you met him twenty minutes ago! Do you need to help everyone and everything we pass on the road? Don't answer that."

"She has a point, and I'm a bit of a danger magnet." Luigi said. _Was that ever an understatement…_ "I'm not sure you'd really want me around."

Misty laughed. "Don't worry about _that_! Ash is the biggest trouble magnet in the history of everything, you couldn't possibly make things worse."

"… Oh." Come to think of it, Ash reminded him of Mario, so that made sense. Come to think of it, what would Mario do, in this situation?

Team up with the new guy and work together to save the world from some massive underground conspiracy, having wacky and potentially dangerous mini-adventures along the way. Why the heck did he keep asking himself what Mario would do?

"Yeah… She's exaggerating, though." Ash assured. Both Misty and the Pokémon perched on top of Ash's hat looked at Luigi and deliberately shook their heads. "If you don't wanna come, that's fine, but I'd like to help any way I can! So, what do you say?"

He wasn't going to get anywhere without help, and he had no hope of blending in in the long run. And if he tried to avoid it, there would most likely be a highly improbable and painful series of events to force him into _Adventure_ anyway. "Alright," Luigi agreed. "I'll come along."

Pikachu said something to Bulbasaur that sounded very like 'I told you so'.

"Awesome!" Ash yelled. "We've got a new friend! So, we're heading to Pewter City, next, where my first Gym Battle will be! You should challenge the gym, too."

"… Maybe?" Luigi didn't really want to. "… I guess if Bulbasaur wants to, then I will…"

"Yeah!" Ash yelled.

"Yeah, it's cool," Misty said. "… Can we finish our meal and get on with it? This food isn't as good as Brock's. And Brock's way more fun."

Luigi agreed, but wondered who, exactly, Brock was; and what he'd gotten himself into.

* * *

The Viridian City Pokémon Gym was a sight to behold. Not because it was a beautiful feat of architecture, which it was, as standard for gyms; but because an absolutely massive hole had been blasted in the side of the building. Rubble was strewn all over the street, apart from a narrow path that had already been cleared for people to walk through.

Officer Jenny was busy talking to the Gym Leader, who Ash was sure he'd seen before but couldn't quite place. As they walked by, Jenny stopped for a moment to warn them that an unknown, but powerful, Pokémon had broken down the wall of the gym late last night, and to be on guard for anything unusual.

"I hope we see that Pokémon," Ash said, as the group walked away from the Gym and towards Viridian Forest. "I bet it's super cool!"

"I hope not… It's got to be dangerous. Which means you've probably seen it before."

"I don't really want to meet it, either," Luigi said.

He was pretty sure he knew exactly what it was, and It was someone he knew very well. Someone strong enough to pulverize a wall like that in seconds, and uncaring enough about property damage to go through with it. Bowser. Full off bluster and ego at first glance, the massive Koopa seemed like all bark and no bite. Luigi knew first-hand that that was absolutely false. If not for his plans usually being small-time and petty, Bowser would undoubtedly be by far the most dangerous foe the Mario Bros had ever faced. In spite of that, he was still very close to the worst. Luigi had no illusions of what would happen if he met an enraged Bowser by himself.

"Huh… I guess so," Ash admitted. "… Oh well. But if we do see it, it'll be cool!"

"... And what will you do if we do find it?" Misty asked. "… Which we probably will, anyway."

Luigi and this girl thought in similar ways.

"Make friends with it!" Ash declared. "That's always worked out in the past!"

"… I guess I can't deny that. Well, we'll be in the forest soon. Let's not get hopelessly lost this time," Misty suggested. "I don't like camping."

"Neither do I," Luigi agreed. "But in my experience, you take what you can get on _Adventures_ , because if you don't you'll probably be sucked into some random problem and mortal peril."

Misty looked at him. "You've got a… different approach to this things than Ash. Oh well. The sooner we get going, the sooner we'll get through whatever happens in Viridian Forest, and the sooner we'll reach Pewter City… And Brock."

"Yeah, he's a good friend," Ash agreed. "Even if he gets weird around girls."

At least they knew where their friends were… Luigi had no idea where his friends were, or even how many of them were in this world. Probably Mario, and he'd seen pretty solid evidence of Bowser (for whom the definition of friend was contentious at best), but what about Peach? The Toad Brigade? Everyone else? He hoped they weren't in too much trouble, wherever they were.

* * *

 

Most of the day was spent trekking through Viridian Forest. Ash caught two more Pokémon, or, rather, two familiar Pokémon caught themselves, and were caught up on current events by Pikachu and Bulbasaur.

Both Caterpie and Pidgeotto had figured out the time travel thing - Devolution didn't exactly just happen, no matter how much some Pokémon wished it did. They'd also come to the conclusion that Ash was involved, and resolved to help him in some way.

Which, as Pikachu noted, did save them the trouble of trying to find them again.

Once it was dark, they set up camp. As it turns out, Luigi actually did know how to start a fire and cook (both things usually done by Pokémon or one of Ash's friends, respectively). Ash and Misty each got out a sleeping bag, but Luigi didn't have one. In fact, he didn't even have a backpack.

Luigi's response when Misty asked about this was short and to the point. "I find myself sleeping outside a lot. I don't mind much."

"If you say so…" Misty said, before going to get some firewood.

Luigi didn't do much for dinner - just roasted some unfamiliar berries that looked appetizing. They weren't the best, but they were much better than May's cooking, which Luigi took as a compliment.

"It's nice to be able to make friends so easily," Luigi commented, as he watched Ash spending time with his Pokémon and Bulbasaur. "They seem to really like you."

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so." Ash had wondered for a while if Luigi was Bulbasaur's original trainer, but decided he didn't seem like the type. He may not have had much of a positive outlook on things, but he was too nice.

"That much hasn't changed…" Misty said. "Luigi? I was wondering, where are you from? What are your friends like?"

Luigi didn't say anything for a moment. "I'm from Mushroom Kingdom. It's pretty far away, and not many people know about it. My friends… Well, there's my older twin brother, Mario. He's always been with me through thick and thin. I get worried about him sometimes, he's… A lot like Ash, really. Always leaping before he looks. But I wouldn't trade him for anything." Luigi smiled, thinking of his brother.

Pikachu said it was just like him and Ash.

"Hey, thanks buddy," Ash said. "You're the best, too!"

"And then there's Yoshi, who's a good friend," Luigi added. "He's always cheerful, and eager for adventure, just like Mario. Probably why they get along so well. And Peach, Mario's… friend, I think. Uh, she's nice, as long as you don't mess with anyone she cares about. Then she's scary."

"Pikachu-pi," Pikachu added.

"Okay, I know that word," Misty said. "What about me?"

"He's just saying she sounds like you," Ash said. "Right, buddy?"

"Pi!"

"Dunno about that… You're not that much like her. There's also Professor Gadd… He's a bit of a mad scientist, and studies ghosts," Luigi shuddered at the thought, "but still a good friend. He looks really old, but I'm pretty sure he's not _that_ old."

"You must've had some fun adventures with them…" Ash said.

"If you're anything like him," Misty gestured to Ash, "They must have been weird, too."

"Definitely weird, but I don't know about _fun_. Some of them, yeah, when the universe doesn't hate me _too_ much," Luigi admitted. "But most of the time, it's pretty terrifying. I'd honestly prefer that there just weren't all these problems, and I could just stay home and have a nice, quiet day. But there will always be people in danger… And, I guess I just have to help, as best I can."

Ash nodded. "Right."

Pikachu said that Ash goes looking for trouble as often as it finds him, and Misty unknowingly echoed him.

"… Yeah, Mario does that, too. I hope he's doing alright." Luigi closed his eyes, and seemed lost in thought. "… I can't-" Luigi was panicking a bit now. "I… I don't know where he is! That's never… No, no, that can't be right… It's not working, I don't…"

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be alright," Ash assured Luigi. "We'll help you find him, don't worry! Now, why don't we all get some rest? We've got a long day tomorrow if we want to make it to Pewter City!"

"… Right, yes, sleep," Luigi said, still visibly shaken. "… Sounds good."

"Are you alright?" Misty asked. "That seemed a little… I don't know…"

"I'll be fine," Luigi said. "I just can't feel… never mind. Good night." And with that, Luigi laid back on the ground, and was asleep in under a minute. Bulbasaur seemed perturbed at Luigi's sudden freaking out, but went to his current trainer to find his Pokéball to sleep in, only to find that the pockets on his overalls were just decoration.

Ash and Pikachu were already asleep in their own sleeping bag by now, leaving only Bulbasaur and Misty awake.

"Hey, Bulbasaur," Misty called out. "If you can't find your Pokéball, you can come with me for tonight. It's got to be better than the ground."

Bulbasaur agreed, and crawled into her sleeping bag. It was a bit odd to be held like Togepi, but it did beat sleeping on the ground.

Just what was with Luigi? Bulbasaur didn't think he'd outright _lied_ , but he was definitely omitting _something_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Another chapter... And the longest so far! I know it's been a while. I wanted to get more details on the plot of Pokemon Sun and Moon, to see what I could and couldn't work into the plot here. And now I have the game... Also, my internet is really not that great. So, while I have continued writing, and editing already written chapters, opportunities to post them aren't as often as I'd like, especially as I'm uploading to three websites at once. And I don't want to try and do this on a schedule... I really want to make sure this story is how I'd like it to be, no matter how long that takes me.
> 
> Luigi, of course, has both superpowers and astoundingly terrible luck. Impossible or improbable things happen regularly around the Mario Brothers, both good and bad - Luigi tends to focus on the bad and not notice the good, while Mario is more creative in how he turns bad luck into a good turn. Within the story, this is something the Mario family has been plagued with for hundreds of years, with Mario and Luigi themselves receiving the worst of it.
> 
> Ash, having known Luigi for twenty minutes, puts his journey on hold to help him out. This is typical and expected.
> 
> Giovanni's Gym broke. The question, of course, is if it was actually Bowser who broke it, or something else? Luigi thinks it's the former, and it's very much like Bowser to punch in a wall he doesn't like. On the other hand, it could have been a Pokemon who got a bit overzealous in battle.
> 
> The next chapter's character focus will be... A character who has yet to make an actual physical appearance in this story. That's right, Dawn! Ha, I actually mean Princess Peach. Having the Mario Brothers vanish into thin air isn't exactly a good thing for the Mushroom Kingdom.


	5. Mushroom Interlude

The Mushroom Kingdom was not in a great state. This was being kept secret from most of Toad Town, due to the capital's tendency to launch into all-out panic at the slightest provocation, but most of the leaders throughout the country had been informed of the problem. Namely, that during a skirmish at Mushroom Castle, the Mario Bros and Bowser had both disappeared because of some hare-brained scheme of Bowser's, along with a device Bowser didn't actually know how to use.

Only the Toad Brigade, however, knew that Peach and Kamek were working together to get all three of them back, and some of the members were accompanying the duo to visit a very prevalent scientist to get some help.

Said scientist, Professor Elvin Gadd, was busy with his paranormal research, being a bit of a recluse, and trying to figure out just how a campsite had managed to travel from who-knows-where to Evershade Valley overnight, bringing with it a blue-haired human girl and her tiny penguin friend who had slept through the whole ordeal.

He'd immediately taken the opportunity to draw a bit of blood for his **Gadderizing Checker-Upper Mk. 255** to analyze and report, just in case they were suffering from warp sickness, and began to give them a tour of his laboratory. They went along with it for some time, mostly quiet and bewildered, but the girl did ask occasional questions. The penguin didn't, and always let his friend do all the talking. Gadd supposed that some people were just quiet.

"Um… Mr. Professor Guy?" The girl eventually interrupted his long-winded speech about the Poltergust. "… Can you… Uh, tell me what's going on?"

"Oh my, yes," Elvin said. "You see, miss… Oh dear, I've forgotten your name…"

"Actually, you didn't ask… I'm Dawn," Dawn said. "And this is my partner!"

"Piplup!" The little penguin said.

"Yes, Dawn, Piplup. Well… Hm. I'm not too clear on that, whippersnappers." E. Gadd said. "It's very strange, to be sure. Oh! Yes, let's make sure you're in good health." He pulled a piece of paper from the **Gadderizing Checker-Upper Mk. 255** , and read through it.

"… Can your machine really tell if we're sick or something just from that?" Dawn asked. It seemed a bit unreal, for a machine to be able to tell much from a drop of blood.

"Well, it should. I've used it many times, worked very hard to produce the ultimate perfected diagnosis machine – No doctors out here, you see!" He continued reading the paper. "Oh my! Very interesting, hmm?" He looked at Dawn, studying her carefully, and then the same to Piplup. "Uncanny resemblance, but the data doesn't lie…"

"Piplup, are you confused, too?" Dawn asked.

"Lup, piplup!" Piplup assured her.

"Yeah… No need to worry, I guess!" The Professor did seem pretty nice, if a bit odd… and full of himself.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," E. Gadd said. "The scan suggests that you both are extraterrestrial. Quite extraordinary, really, you and him appear to have more common ancestry than you and I."

"… Wait, so… I'm on an alien planet?" Dawn asked. "… How does that work? It doesn't make any sense…"

"I have no idea," Elvin replied. "But I know someone who might. I'd better give them fellers a call."

No one picked up when he called. He didn't seem particularly worried about it, noting that the two often left the devices he used to contact with them at home while going on their grand adventures. They'd call back in a few hours, Gadd assured.

Then Dawn asked what grand adventures, and lost him. She learned about two young men – Friends to the professor, called Mario and Luigi. With those two were around, 'Anything that can happen, will happen' (He called it an 'improbability field'), which led them to adventure after adventure, constantly saving the world and helping people out.

According to the professor, they were "Real-life superheroes, real stand-up fellers."

For a time, the two traded stories – Dawn about her travels with Ash, and all the trouble they got up to, along with some basic information about where she came from. Gadd responded in turn, regaling her with grand tales of the Mario Brothers, and a few nuggets of information about this world. One of interest was that, in this world, penguins could talk, just the same as humans.

It was long into the night (which took great skill to determine in places like Evershade Valley) when a knock came at E. Gadd's door, and he opened the door to greet what Dawn could only describe as a fairy-tale princess.

She quickly found out that this was, in fact, the same princess from the professor's stories, and that there was a bit of a situation. She brought in three others, two small… People? Dawn had no idea, they looked like walking, talking, mushrooms. The third was a reptilian creature wearing a blue robe, and they began to explain what was going on.

The robed figure was Kamek, Bowser's court wizard, caretaker, and the one who did most of the actual work running the Koopa Kingdom.

"A week ago, the Koopalings and I began working on a technomagical device to send the Mario Brothers _somewhere else_ permanently. We gave it to Bowser, but didn't tell him what it did, only that if he used it on the Mario Brothers, we would finally win."

Peach glared at Kamek.

"Yes, yes… Ah, well, Bowser transported himself, as well, and there's the crux of the issue. We didn't account for Bowser when building the device. So… Well, all three of them are gone, and we don't know where they are or how to get them back."

"I see… Interesting…" Elvin said. "… For one, you really should have thought this through, and calibrated the device to account for greater amounts of matter and magic being transported. For another, exiling people to another dimension is low, even for you."

"Desperation to please His Rowdiness can do incredible things. I'll do everything I can to get all three back. Even if I hate the _plumbers_ ," He spat the word like an insult. "None of you are going to let me do anything without getting them back."

"Well, that's good enough for me!" Gadd said. "The real question, then, is what now? I have an inkling Dawn here is probably from whatever world you sent them fellers to. That means there might be some lingering effects of your device – Makes it easier to track, but also more dangerous, yesiree."

One of the mushroom creatures, the one with glasses and a blue cap, spoke up. "I think we should first asses the dangers, and figure out where to go from there. Yellow and I can handle any adventuring that needs to be done."

"And I'll join them," Peach added. "I'm not much for the technical aspect of magic."

"… So, magic? Other worlds?" Dawn asked. "… Wow. Guess Ash rubbed off on me, huh?"

"You're taking this remarkably well," Peach said. "Has this happened before?"

"Not exactly… But stuff like it, yeah," Dawn said. "It always works out, so there's no need to worry!"

"There very well could be, youngster. I'll have to gather some data, run some tests." Gadd said. "We don't know how far down this pipe goes, too far and we could end up in the minus world, and nobody wants that."

Dawn wasn't sure how to respond to that, but Kamek didn't give her the chance, saying that he'd run some diagnostic spells to see if anything had gone wrong, and Gadd telling her and the other guests to make themselves at home while he did his own thing.

* * *

Over the next few hours, Dawn got to know Princess Peach and her two friends. The mushroom people were called Toads, and these two were (creatively) named Blue and Yellow. They had more tales to tell about the Mario Brothers, and she was starting to wonder what these two _hadn't_ done.

Eventually Gadd returned, loudly announcing he had good news. "I can tell you where the Mario Brothers are! But first, we need to talk about parallel universe." He chuckled. "Just a bit of humor… Yes, they are, in fact, in the same dimension Dawn is from, finding them was quite the walk in the cake! Not even a smogon of a smeck of difficulty!"

It took Dawn a few seconds to realize what he'd actually said, and she was left wondering what these expressions even meant.

Peach simply ignored them and cut to the chase. "There's a catch."

"… Well, it's too dangerous to bring them back directly. The displacement of several powerful entities from both worlds has done significant damage to space-time. It'll take some time to figure out a solution, and we'll definitely need to find everything from your world, Dawn, that ended up here, before we can even think about getting them back." Gadd looked at the Toads.

"Huh… So, I'm guessing you need me to figure out who's who and what's what, huh?" Dawn asked. She smiled. "Great! A brand-new journey, though another world… Sound like fun, Piplup?"

"Pip-piplup!" Piplup agreed.

"Aren't there people worried about you?" Blue asked.

"… Well, I was on a journey through Johto by myself," Dawn said. "It's going to be a while before anyone really notices and starts worrying. Plus, this'll help you guys find your friends, right? So, count me in!"

Yellow yawned, and spoke up. "She'll get home… sooner… If she's helping, right…?"

"Youngster, you raise a good point," Gadd said. "So! All five of you, on a grand adventure through the Mushroom Kingdom! I suggest you get some rest, and I'll see if I can find out where anything from Dawn's world might be! Kamek may have some insights, too, he's still quite busy out back. I'll also get some supplies prepared for the morning, can't be too careful with these things!"

Blue laughed at that.

"I assure you, I'm always _very_ careful, regardless of any stories Luigi may have told you, especially ones involving yard sales," Gadd said. "Why, I don't even know what a yard sale is. Now, come along, there's some spare cots around here somewhere…"

* * *

Kamek reported his concerns to Princess Peach and Professor Gadd, but refused to divulge specific information to anyone else, on the grounds that they wouldn't understand. He assured them that everything was just fine, for now. Gadd had managed to pinpoint something "incredibly interesting", and announced his plans to send everyone out to investigate. Dawn, Piplup, Princess Peach, and the Toads prepared to leave, and Gadd gave each of them a small device that reminded Dawn of her Pokédex.

"These are Dual Screams, or DS, if you prefer!" He explained. "They're a genius device, whipped together by yours truly! You can access maps, contact me, keep track of various information… All you need to run a successful adventure! Oh, and if one of you manages to get sucked into a wormhole, these work through time and dimensions, so no worries!"

"Thank you, Professor," Peach said, accepting one of the devices.

"Uh… What was that about wormholes?" Dawn asked, as she accepted her own.

"Oh, that's right! Forgot to mention last night…" Dawn looked out at the sky that somehow hadn't managed to get bright yet, even though she knew it should definitely be day by now. "Due to the damage to space-time, wormholes could randomly open up and dump you… Well, anywhere, really, in your world, somewhere in ours, in some semi-random world with the barest connection to either… Who knows? Extra safety!"

"That seems like kind of an important thing to forget…" Blue said.

"Yes, yes, very important," Gadd said. "Which is why I'm telling you now! Prepare for pixelation!"

"Hold on, what does that mean?" Dawn asked. Blue looked like he was going to answer, but he didn't get the chance.

"Bundle up!" Gadd exclaimed, laughing madly as he pulled a lever. A beam shot out of a camera on the wall, dematerializing all of them and sucking them into Gadd's computer screen.

* * *

The group rematerialized in a hilly area, with light snowfall falling in the dim morning light.

Dawn shivered – She wished she had some warm clothes, but she hadn't exactly expected to be anywhere like this anytime soon. Piplup wasn't much better, clinging to her leg for warmth. She picked him up and held him close to her.

Peach was faring a bit better, and seemed somewhat annoyed by the whole situation. Yellow had somehow managed to stay sleeping throughout the transition, and didn't seem the least bit bothered by the snow. Blue was ranting about E. Gadd.

"This is why no one wants to work for him! He's crazy, he's irresponsible, he tests dangerous inventions on people without their consent, and that's just the tip of the iceberg!"

"Where are we?" Dawn asked. "It's… Really cold."

"Oh… Right. Let's see… This looks like Frappe Snowland. It's always cold here… I've got some blankets you can use to keep warm." He pulled a blanket from nowhere, and it was very warm-looking. Dawn accepted it, and it helped a bit.

"The bridge should be a little way ahead," Peach said. "We should split up from there, and meet back later – An hour or two, I think. Dawn, are you okay with that?"

"Oh… Yeah, sure! We'll be fine, right, Piplup?"

Piplup agreed.

"Alright. Come on, it's just a few minutes' walk." Peach took the lead, and Blue took the rear, dragging the still sleeping Yellow after him.

"What's Mario like?" Dawn asked. "You're friends with him, right?"

"… Yeah," Peach said. "He's one of my best friends. His brother, too. I really hope they're okay..."

"If they can really do all those things you said, I'm sure they're fine!"

"They're the Mario Brothers," Peach said. " _Anything_ could be happening to them right now, but I don't have the slightest idea what's going on. I know they can probably handle it, definitely handle it, but I'm still worried about them."

"I guess so… I worry about Ash, too. He's always on some crazy adventure, and I know he's always okay in the end, but I can't help but think that, one of these times, he might not be, you know?"

Peach nodded. "I know the feeling all too well."

"Is that the bridge you're talking about?" Dawn asked, pointing up ahead to a simple wooden bridge spanning a river.

"That's it alright. We used to have kart races here... Before we split up, let me tell you a little something: There's only a few landmarks around here, and the bridge is one of them. If there's something around, it shouldn't be too hard to spot, but this field is pretty big. And be careful not to go too far – We're close to the edge of this cold region, and you could run into one of the forests. The forests in the Mushroom Kingdom are usually haunted, full of incredibly toxic water, or both. They're very dangerous, but you should be safe as long as you stay in the snow."

"Okay," Dawn said. "Got it. No forests, no worries!"

"Right. Stay safe."

* * *

Frappe Snowland was very, very large. After the initial shock of the cold wore off, it was clear that it was nowhere near as cold as Snowpoint City. It was also apparent that it was very, very large, and plenty of places to hide – Dawn hadn't noticed at first, but the entire area was dotted with huge snow sculptures, depicting both people and creatures she'd never seen before, along with snowy hills as far as the eye could see.

There was no way she and Piplup would be able to search that on their own. Luckily, they weren't alone. Dawn released her other Pokémon – Buneary, Pachirisu, Mamoswine, Quilava, and Togekiss.

Dawn explained what was going on – They'd probably already heard most of it from inside their Pokéballs, and indeed they didn't seem surprised, and they split up and went their separate ways.

Pachirisu immediately ran off aimlessly, completely ignoring his teammates and probably forgetting everything Dawn had just said within twenty seconds. Mamoswine and Quilava went off on their own to search. Dawn smiled – It was always nice to see those two working together. Togekiss took to the sky, watching over everyone and for anything to happen.

Buneary and Piplup stayed with Dawn, trekking through the snow and hoping to find something.

"Sure is cold out here, huh?" Dawn asked. "Gosh… Could you imagine camping out here?"

Piplup's eyes went wide. He shook his head as fast as he could – No, he would not enjoy that, not one bit.

Buneary pointed (as best she could) to the vest that Dawn's mother had made for her.

"I think the fluff is doing more to keep you warm than your vest…" Dawn said. "Hey… Do you guys hear that?"

There was a strange sound coming from just beyond the next hill – Piplup didn't seem to hear it, but Buneary certainly did notice after Dawn pointed it out. She raced off, Dawn and Piplup close behind. As they ran, the sound grew louder and louder – Far louder than it should have been.

Buneary stopped and stared when she reached the Peak of the hill. Piplup, upon reaching the top, began freaking out a bit. When Dawn crested the hill, she saw the source of the sound, and she didn't blame her Pokémon one bit for their reactions.

Just beyond the hill was what could only be described as a hole in space, making an indescribable sound that grew louder and louder. Lightning danced around the edges of the hole, and the inside was filled with a pattern of blue lines that looked far too uniform to exist in something like this.

Something red shot out of the hole, crashing into a snowdrift. Dawn looked over in concern, but quickly looked back at the hole, and noticed something she hadn't before. Standing in front of the hole was a woman. Her hair was so pale, and her dress such a light blue, that she must've blended into the snow somehow, despite her incredible height. She raised something in her hand, and waved it around.

The hole was gone, as if it had never been there in the first place. Dawn looked to over to the woman, who remained standing there for a few moments. Then she was gone, as if she'd never been there in the first place. The blue-haired girl was left wondering if any of that had actually happened.

"Did you guys see that, too?" Dawn asked. "That lady, and the weird hole?"

Piplup nodded. "Piplup, lup?"

"You think that's one of the things the professor was talking about?" Dawn guessed. Piplup nodded. "That makes sense… I think I saw something come out of it! Buneary, go check, I'll be right behind you!"

Buneary hopped over to where the red thing had crashed quickly, and called out to Dawn and Piplup as they gave chase.

"It's a Pokémon?" Dawn guessed. Buneary responded in affirmation, and started trying to pull the Pokémon out of the snow. Dawn and Piplup came to help as quickly as they could, but the large Pokémon was proving very difficult to move.

"Ash makes this look so easy!" Dawn complained, and continued trying to pull it out. It was too covered in snow to tell what exactly it was, only that it was very large, and was covered in downy red and white feathers.

Togekiss flew down to try and help, but she wasn't really able to do much. Eventually, Dawn, Piplup, and Buneary managed to pull the Pokémon out, and Togekiss immediately wrapped her wings around the new Pokémon's neck for warmth. Dawn quickly draped the blanket Blue had given her over the rest of its body, and took her time to look the Pokémon over and make sure it wasn't too badly hurt.

Now that she could see it, Dawn could tell this wasn't a Pokémon she'd ever seen before. She'd seen one a lot like it though, and was pretty sure she knew what this one was. Just to be sure, she took out her Pokédex and pointed it at the poor thing.

" _Latias, the Eon Pokémon. Latias is highly sensitive to the emotions of people. If it senses any hostility, this Pokémon ruffles the feathers all over its body and cries shrilly to intimidate the foe._ "

"Gosh… And she's a dragon type, too…" Dawn leaned down to Latias. "Hey, Latias… Wake up, please?"

Latias stirred, and opened her eyes to look at Dawn.

"It's alright, I'm a friend. Are you okay, Latias? Not too cold?"

Latias crooned, and nodded.

"I'm glad you're okay," Dawn said "That was some crazy stuff going on, huh? This might sound weird, but you came through a wormhole and now you're in another world."

Latias's eyes widened, and she began trying to get free of the blanket.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," Dawn said. "I met some really nice people here, there's no need to worry. We'll get home, for sure!"

Latias calmed down a bit, and said something. Now it was Piplup and Buneary who began freaking out.

"I'm really not sure what you're trying to tell me… It sounds important, and I'm really sorry I can't tell." Dawn smiled. "Once Latias is warmed up a bit more, we should go find everyone else, huh?"

Piplup sighed, and agreed with Dawn. Buneary calmed down too, and began drawing things in the snow. Togekiss had remained calm through all this, and just continued to keep Latias warm.

Watching Latias, Dawn was reminded of a story Ash had told her once, about meeting Latias and Latios in Alto Mare. It wasn't the happiest story he'd told, but Dawn wondered… Was this the same Latias? Only one way to be sure.

"Hey, Latias? Do you know someone named Ash?"

Latias jumped at the name, almost throwing Togekiss off, and made a sound Dawn took as a yes.

"Small world! Or worlds, I guess, heh… I travelled with Ash for a long time! He told me all about you and your brother! I'm really sorry about him… But, hey, a friend of a friend is a friend, right?"

Latias had a strange expression on her face that Dawn couldn't place when she mentioned her brother, but nodded in agreement to her last statement.

"Great! Hey, I think it's time to go find everyone else, alright? Wait until you meet my new friends! One of them is a real princess!" Dawn returned Togekiss, and made some quick preparations. Latias offered to let Buneary and Piplup ride her, which the two smaller Pokémon happily agreed to.

* * *

Finding most of the team wasn't too difficult. Mamoswine and Quilava had somehow managed to come into contact with Blue, and the three had decided to get into a battle for whatever reason. Blue turned out to be very quick on his feet and much tougher than he looked, and a sleeping Yellow made a surprisingly effective flail and projectile.

Dawn quickly broke up the battle, and explained to Blue that these were more of her friends, and demonstrated how the Pokéballs worked for him. He was weirded out, but eventually accepted that friendly monsters could somehow fit into metal baseballs. It was after this that Dawn returned his blanket.

Pachirisu proved much harder to find, but it eventually turned out that he'd decided that one of the giant snow sculptures must be made of ice cream, and was busy trying (and failing) to eat it. Blue took one look at the squirrel and sighed in exasperation as he set Yellow down on the ground.

Dawn started to ask Buneary to go get him, but Blue acted quickly. He turned on the spot and jumped, somersaulting towards the sculpture. He hit the wall of the giant snow dragon, somehow managing to stick to it and jump off again. He managed to turn in midair and grab the ledge at the top of the sculpture with tips of his fingers, and vaulted up to grab the electric squirrel. He quickly hopped down as though nothing had happened, and handed Pachirisu back to Dawn.

"What was that?" Dawn asked, as she returned Pachirisu.

Blue shrugged. "I've been on a couple of adventures. I got good at it, I guess."

* * *

Despite not being able to find anything, Princess Peach had not given up. She knew that people wouldn't be happy with the destruction of the snow sculptures, but she also knew that something important could be hiding anywhere. She lifted a sculpture of herself into the air and blasted it apart with magic, once more finding nothing but snow.

She wished that E. Gadd had actually given them any sort of idea or reason for what they were doing here, instead of just leaving her to guess that they were looking for something or someone from Dawn's world. So far, she'd failed to find anything unusual, and it was getting frustrating.

Peach continued walking through the snow, but for quite some time couldn't find a thing. It was only when she sat down by a snowman that she saw something glittering in the snow some ways away. With renewed determination, she lifted it over to herself with magic.

It was a small round stone, but easily one of the most interesting ones she'd ever seen. It glistened with all the colors of the rainbow, and within it was a strange symbol that looked sort of like a twisted ladder. No matter which way she turned the stone, the symbol always looked the same, which was undoubtedly unusual.

It definitely wasn't something she'd seen before, but she doubted Gadd would have sent them here just for this tiny stone. She pocketed it anyway, as she hadn't managed to find anything else. She sat in the snow a while longer, taking the time to think about the Mario Brothers.

Her dearest friends… Where were they now? What were they doing? Were they also working their hardest to get themselves home? Peach sighed. She knew them too well to believe that… As long as there was someone in need, Mario couldn't leave them; and Luigi would go far beyond the ends of the world for his brother. Even if they knew the dangers, they'd try and solve all the world's biggest problems first.

Despite what Kamek had said to everyone else, his diagnostic spells had raised cause for concern. While nothing serious had happened yet, the magic of the world was less stable than usual. Environmental magic in the other continents had already begun to collapse. Kamek didn't know when, or even if, the Mushroom Kingdom and the surrounding countries would be affected, but emphasized that if they were, the amount of magic and how tightly it was bound to the continent meant that such effects would be absolutely catastrophic and difficult to predict.

Peach snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Dawn calling to her, and looked over to see the young girl and Blue standing side by side. Blue was still dragging his sleeping brother around, and Peach could see that they were joined by someone new – Or two, actually, as Peach could see a small rabbit next to Dawn's penguin friend.

Peach, being the de-facto ruler of one of the largest countries on the planet, had extensively studied its species and races. She'd never seen this one before, though it was clearly draconic or avian.

Dawn introduced her new friends – The rabbit, Buneary, had actually been with Dawn since the beginning, in a device she called a Pokéball that seemed to be used as transport and portable living space. The dragon was named Latias, and had come through a wormhole, or what Dawn thought was one.

Like Piplup, Buneary and Latias were only able to say variations of their own names. Listening to them, Peach wondered why that was, and how it worked... Although the Yoshi language did make extensive usage of variations on the word 'Yoshi', it wasn't used quite to this extent, and the syllables were never split like this, either.

They called Gadd, and talked to him for a while. He informed them that they'd have to find their own way, he couldn't just pixelate them back (which was a definite inconvenience, no matter how weird pixelation felt). Piplup, Buneary, and Latias continued talking among themselves throughout the conversation, which continued to be a distraction to Peach even after they finished talking to the professor.

Peach, thankfully, did know how to get to Shiver City from here, and Blue was able to quickly calculate that, given the worst conditions possible, constant travelling should get them there around five in the afternoon – well before the sun set, leaving them able to reach the Toad Town Tunnels with little difficulty or danger.

It actually went going somewhat differently – Dawn couldn't keep up with Peach and Blue, so she was given a ride by Latias. The dragon had absolutely no difficulty in keeping up, and didn't even seem winded by the long trip when they stopped to rest halfway through. They did reach Shiver City well before it got too cold, and Dawn suggested they stay for lunch.

"Some warm soup would be nice," Peach agreed. "But… Most of the people here are penguins. Piplup… Please don't talk to them, they won't understand you, and that might raise some concerns. The others should probably stay quiet, too, but it's not as much of a potential problem."

"No need to worry!" Dawn said. "Right, Piplup?"

"Pi pip lu luppi!" Piplup agreed.

* * *

The lunch had been excellent – A mildly spicy soup that filled you with warmth, no matter how cold you may be. When Dawn remarked on it, Peach said it was because the soup was made from magical flowers containing the essence of fire, called Fire Flowers. Dawn also got some extra to feet her other Pokémon later.

After lunch, Peach led the way to a green pipe sticking out of the snow, a strange sight indeed, and jumped down. Blue did as well. Dawn looked to Latias and her Pokémon, who seemed just as bewildered as she was.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out," Dawn said. "Come on, let's go!" She got a running start, and leapt into the pipe.

The experience was difficult to describe… She couldn't tell which way was up, or down, or if she was even moving, but within seconds she'd been spat out of another pipe deep underground, somewhere far warmer than Shiver City had been.

Peach and Blue were standing in the room, waiting for her.

"Welcome to the Toad Town Tunnels," Peach said, just as Piplup and then Buneary flew out of the pipe. "As soon as everyone's here, we'll be going to the castle."

It took a bit longer, but eventually Latias came through the pipe. Dawn was a bit surprised that she'd fit, but the dragon didn't seem to have had any trouble at all… She seemed just as surprised by this as Dawn was, so she'd probably had reservations about fitting, as well.

"Alright, let's go. Blue, you know the way?"

"I've been down here plenty of times. I've got camping supplies if we need it, anyway."

"Why would we need that?" Dawn asked.

"Come on, I'll explain while we walk… We want to get out quickly."

Blue led them through several tunnels, all the while Peach was explaining about the tunnels themselves. "These tunnels are a maze. No one knows how big they really are, though – space and time don't seem to have the same meanings down here."

Dawn looked to the trash floating in the water. "A magical sewer?" she guessed.

Peach glared at the trash. "Not a sewer… People have been throwing their secrets down here for two hundred years."

"That's not very nice…" Dawn said.

"No, it's not. I've been trying to get them to stop. The tunnels, apart from being incredibly convenient, are older than the kingdom itself, and a national treasure."

"Older than the kingdom? Cool..."

"I agree," Peach said, smiling at the young girl. "I've always wondered who built them, and _why_. Before it was the Mushroom Kingdom, this place was just known as a cursed land of unnatural wilds. The only people crazy enough to live here were Mario and Luigi's ancestors, but even they didn't know where the tunnels came from."

"Weird…" Dawn said. A mysterious piece of history, in a parallel universe, and she was walking through it. Sure, it smelled bad, but it was still cool. "You must really like this stuff, huh?"

Peach nodded. "Yes, I do. I know I'm the Princess and I shouldn't be thinking about all this, but it's my dream to figure out all the secrets of the Mushroom Kingdom."

"That's a nice dream," Dawn said. "It's my dream to be a great Pokémon Coordinator! Showing off my Pokémon, putting on performances that show people how great they are, that make people smile… Yep, that's my dream!"

"A dream you share with others..." Peach said. She sighed. "… Yeah, I wish Toadsworth shared some of my dreams. But, no. He'd much rather be a worrywart whenever I'm in trouble, even though Mario and Luigi always get me out of it; and insist upon proper manners and a princess-y appearance whenever I'm not."

"… I'm sorry," Dawn said.

"Don't get me wrong," Peach said. "I love Toadsworth. He basically raised me, after all. I want to go on adventures and discover new things. Maybe not the same thing Mario and Luigi do, because they can do so many things that I can't, but there's other stuff I can do." Peach sighed. "And anything is better than being kidnapped again for some arbitrary reason!"

"… Well, we're sort of on an adventure now, right?" Dawn asked.

"… You're right," Peach said. "… Thank you, Dawn. For listening, and for being a friend even though you don't really know me."

"It's not a big deal," Dawn said. "If Ash taught me anything, it's that you can accomplish a lot, just by listening and doing what you can. We got into a lot of weird situations, but always managed to figure things out."

Peach laughed. "That's my _entire life_. I guess not much has changed, then."

"Nope!" Dawn said. "We'll figure it out, and set it right!"

Latias made a sad sound from behind. Dawn looked back, concerned. "I really wish I knew what you were trying to tell me…"

"… Professor Gadd might be able to help." Peach said. "He's made some interesting devices, so a translator shouldn't be too difficult for him."

"Devices…" Dawn said. "… That's right! Piplup can type!"

"Piiip, lup!" The penguin in question said, posing proudly.

"That'll be well and good once we find a computer," Blue said, coming to a stop and setting Yellow down on the floor. "But we've got bigger problems. We're lost."

"I thought you knew the way?" Dawn asked.

"I did, and I know exactly what room we're in," Blue said. "The problem is that this room is upside-down and not where it should be. The layout has changed."

"… It's probably a side effect of Kamek's portal," Peach guessed. "The warp magic of the tunnels is twisted… That's definitely a problem. Are there any exits that don't involve warps?"

"There's one about halfway between Mario's house and Truffle Towers," Blue said. "We're probably better off just picking pipes at random, though. We… Could be down here a while. I've got supplies, like I said, but not very much. No chance of the Professor contacting us down here, either."

"No need to worry, I've got plenty for everyone!" Dawn said. "I just restocked on stuff yesterday, there should be enough food for… I guess a week or so, if we get stuck. Only one tent, though."

"… Better hurry, anyway," Blue said. "… If you see a hole in the ceiling, let us know. Peach? Can you lift us out if we find one?"

"… Not easily, but yes, I can," Peach said.

Latias chirped.

"I think she's saying she can help," Dawn said.

"… That should all be fine, then," Peach said. "Let's get on our way."

* * *

It'd been a long climb, but he was used to it, and it'd all be worth it if his wish came true. Shooting Star Summit, Star Hill… Whatever it was called, it was the place on Earth closest to the stars. If he wished from there, it was sure to come true… Or he'd at least have some answers.

On the summit, he stared into the starry sky, and made his wish. He needed to find his friends. He needed to bring them back.

And the sky broke open. The little dragon glared down a yawning hole into nowhere. This otherworldly _thing_ had taken them, he knew it. And he, Yoshi, was going to bring Mario and Luigi back, if was the last thing he did. He didn't hesitate for a moment.

Just after he jumped through, the wormhole closed quietly. There was no trace left that it or Yoshi had ever been on the mountain in the first place. Suddenly, Rosalina was there. She looked around, saw no wormhole to fix, and just as suddenly wasn't there anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. This chapter.
> 
> When I opened up the rough draft for editing, I realized I didn't like the chapter very much. So I scrapped it, and re-wrote it, trying to get more out of plot advancement and the characters. Dawn and Peach were always the focus of this chapter, but the original draft was more about Peach than this one. Also, less than half the length. I had no idea this chapter would end up so long, but I guess there's a lot I wanted to say and do.
> 
> That bit with Yoshi? Wasn't expecting that up until the end, either. But I decided I want Yoshi. So Yoshi.
> 
> guest 16 on FF.Net asks if it's going to basically be a re-run of the Kanto saga. No, not really. The time travel is there for two reasons: To give a conflict to Ash and his friends, who otherwise might not know something is wrong; and to have situations that wouldn't otherwise be possible. There's more things that will change, Ash definitely won't be competing in the league (at this point, I'm not sure he's going to get even one badge), and the story will visit other regions (at least Sinnoh).
> 
> You may ask, where did Piplup learn to type? Pikachu taught him. He does not write because he cannot hold a pen.
> 
> Rosalina's around, trying to run damage control, but she's overwhelmed and doesn't have much time to stop and talk to anyone.


	6. A Green Battler

Normally, Luigi was a pretty easy sleeper. He could lay down on a rock covered in sticky garlic-smelling drool and be asleep in seconds (though he honestly didn't like thinking back to that instance). That night, though, he couldn't sleep.

He kept waking up every half-hour or so in a cold sweat, and he knew exactly why. When he'd tried to reach down his link to his brother, he'd gotten _nothing_. Their link had never failed before, not even when Mario was turned into a painting, and not knowing his brother was okay… That was terrifying.

Eventually, morning came. Luigi was tired, but he'd gone longer on less sleep. He and his friends packed up, and were on their way to Pewter City. Ash and Misty talked and bickered, as old friends do. Every once in a while, Luigi asked a question, some of which he imagined were pretty basic, but just explained it as things working differently where he was from.

… They'd probably get curious about where exactly that was, eventually. For now, Misty seemed to have dropped it after her question last night. He didn't know how he'd explain it to them… He'd have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

The walk was peaceful enough for the first few hours, but then they were rudely interrupted by a ten year old dressed as a samurai with a bug net and a sword jumping out of a bush.

"Hi-yaaa! Greetings, o awkward teenager!"

"Hey…" Luigi was more than a bit annoyed at having a sword shoved in his face, but he was trying to be polite… Mario probably would have smashed the sword by now, but Luigi was willing to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. He was not, in fact, in any way afraid of swords.

"Why would you just shove a sword in someone's face, huh?" Misty asked.

"Are you by chance the Pokémon Trainer who comes from Pallet?" The bug catcher completely ignored the orange-haired girl, his focus purely on Luigi.

"Uh, no." He didn't know where or what Pallet was, but he was from Toad Town, born and raised.

"Alas, my search continues," the samurai-boy said, sheathing his sword… Before promptly turning around and giving Ash the same greeting.

"That's me, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" Ash said cheerfully, despite the sword in his personal space.

"I am Samurai! I am shrewd, fearless, and completely invincible in combat!" The rude boy said, sheathing his sword once more.

"… And full of yourself," Misty said.

Luigi had to agree with Misty, but was more concerned about who gave kids weapons like that. Then he was reminded of a pair of one-year-olds swinging around half-ton iron mallets, and decided that he really wasn't one to talk.

Samurai ignored her. "I came for a Pokémon match! We shall see who triumphs… The novice with the shabby-looking Pikachu, or the incredible samurai extraordinaire!"

"Pika!"

"Well, you see, Mr. Samurai," Misty said, cutting in front of Ash. "He's not a novice, he's actually nearly eleven! And look, he's got a Pikachu, that's not one of the starters Professor Oak gives out!"

"Hey! But I did just-"

"Ash, shut up," Misty whispered. "Look, remember how annoying this guy is? Let's just get out of here before he manages to call a swarm of Beedrill on us again!"

"You don't look like you'd provide a good battle, anyway." Samurai either hadn't heard Misty or was acting like he didn't, Luigi wasn't sure. "You! Awkward Teenager!"

"It's Luigi." And he didn't much like this kid's… name for him.

"Yes, yes, Linguini," Samurai said. "How long have you had that Bulbasaur?"

"… Two days?"

"Ah! So you are a novice! I assume you stopped in Pallet to get your starter from Professor Oak?"

"… Yes?" Luigi said nervously. He remembered Professor Oak, at least.

"Ah! That explains why your Pokémon handling is so dimwitted and clumsy! Your Bulbasaur has been walking alongside you this whole time. Don't you know how to call it to its ball?"

"Uh… No…?" … It really should have been more obvious that that was a thing he could do, but he hadn't even considered it.

Samurai pulled a Pokéball from his pocket. "Defeating you in battle should be easy. You're not up to snuff with the other Pallet trainers."

"I'd actually prefer not-"

"Bulba!" Bulbasaur interjected, leaping in front of Luigi and glaring at Samurai. "SAUR!"

Luigi sighed. Well, looked like he was taking part in his first battle after all.

"Go! Pinsir!" Samurai said, throwing out a ball. An absolutely enormous stag beetle popped out, and to make things better, it had huge thorny horns.

Luigi took out his Pokédex and pointed it at Pinsir.

" _Pinsir, the stag beetle Pokémon._ _It can grip a foe weighing twice its weight in its horns and easily lift it. This Pokémon's movements turn sluggish in cold places._ "

"This will be a two-on-two battle!" Samurai said. "When one trainer's Pokémon are both unable to battle, it ends! Pinsir use Tackle!" He gave his first command with no warning, and the giant bug shot forward.

"Jump!" Luigi yelled, reacting quickly. Bulbasaur complied, and not a second too soon. Pinsir was moving too fast, and passed underneath him.

"Not so fast! Pinsir use Vice Grip!"

Luigi was able to figure out what that meant quickly, or at least he hoped he was. "Jump again! Try to land a counterattack!"

As Luigi had predicted, Pinsir tried to grab Bulbasaur in its horns. Bulbasaur just barely cleared them, and then sent out a vine and smacked Pinsir's back.

"Ha!" Samurai said, as Bulbasaur tumbled over Pinsir. "Vine Whip? Grass attacks aren't very effective against Bug-type Pokémon!"

Good to know… So he'd have to think of something clever… Great. Mario was so much better at this part… What tools did Bulbasaur have? The vine whip thing, and those leaves he'd sent at those weirdoes in white uniforms. Luigi didn't have any clue how to use them offensively, especially as this bug apparently resisted them, but defensively… _That could work_ , Luigi thought.

"Pinsir, double back and use Vice Grip before it recovers!"

"Stand your ground!" Luigi said. "Ready Vine Whip!"

"Saur?!"

"Trust me!" Effective or not – Deflect an opponent's attack, and you've got an opening.

Bulbasaur nodded, and quickly brought out his vines, standing at the ready as Pinsir rushed him.

"Grab its horns and push up!"

Bulbasaur wrapped his vines around Pinsir's horns and pushed up on the larger Pokémon as much as he could. It was just enough for Pinsir's horns to miss Bulbasaur entirely, and the large bug kept going and tripped over Bulbasaur.

It knocked Bulbasaur over, causing him to completely lose his grip on the horns. Pinsir was much worse off. Having tripped over Bulbasaur, it kept going, and tumbled headfirst into a tree.

"Shake it off and use X-Scissor!"

Pinsir did so. Its claws glowed green, and it slashed in a cross pattern before Bulbasaur could dodge. The super-effective attack sent Bulbasaur flying. Despite being battered, Bulbasaur managed to land on his feet, and his expression remained determined.

"Alright, let's finish this, Pinsir! Time for Guillotine!" Samurai yelled, raising his sword to the sky. Pinsir raised an arm, a glowing blade of light forming along it.

"Bulbasaur, when I say 'Now', I want you to jump and slam down as hard as you can!" Luigi hoped that this would work - He didn't even know if Bulbasaur could do a jump counter, but he didn't like the idea of finding out what an attack called 'Guillotine' did.

"GO!" Samurai yelled.

Luigi waited a second, and once Pinsir was just a few feet away from Bulbasaur, made his move. "Now!"

Bulbasaur leapt into the air, ending up directly over the rushing Pinsir's back, and used Tackle. What happened was exactly what Luigi was hoping for - Pinsir stumbled and fell on its own Guillotine, instantly knocking itself out.

Bulbasaur landed in front of Luigi, battered and panting, but the winner of the battle was as clear as day.

"That was cool!" Ash exclaimed, as Pikachu cheered Bulbasaur on. "Where'd you think of that?"

"I'll admit, that was pretty clever," Misty added.

"You're not as bad as you look," Samurai said, bringing out Pinsir's ball and pointing it at the bug. "Return!" A beam of light shot out, and pulled Pinsir back into the ball.

… Well, _now_ Luigi knew how to put Bulbasaur back in his ball.

"We're not done yet, though! Go, Metapod!" He sent out another Pokémon, which was… A green cocoon with eyes?

"Wait, that's not fair," Ash said. "He doesn't have any other Pokémon yet."

"Hmph. Fine." Luigi was immediately reminded of a certain black hedgehog with a grudge against him. "Metapod, Return!"

"Uh… Well, I guess that was more fun than I was expecting," Luigi said. "… I've never really done that before." … No, that wasn't completely true. He'd done something similar, though that hadn't ended well.

 _"I'm fried to a crisp! You could stick a fork in me! YOU'LL PAY, LUIGI!"_ Blooey had forgiven him in the end, but it had still stung.

"Yes, you did, indeed, give a good battle. You'll go a long way, grasshopper! But a long way yet, you still have to go! The Pewter Gym leader is tough! Far tougher than I! Type advantage alone won't win you this match, of that I am sure!"

"I'm not sure if I'm going to challenge anyone else," Luigi said. "I mean, it was fun, but I've got things to do… If Bulbasaur wants to, then sure, but… Well, I'm on a journey for other reasons."

"Ah! But what about protection? Some wild Pokémon are unfriendly! They may attack, and you may need Bulbasaur to protect you, but without experience it may not be able to!"

Luigi shrugged. "Thanks for a fun battle, anyway."

"Yes! You're very welcome, Lukas."

"That's not – Never mind…" Luigi said. At least it was closer than 'Green Stache' or 'Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy'. "Well, goodbye…"

"Yes, good-bye! May we meet in battle at the League." Samurai jumped into a bush in a dramatic exit, and was gone. Or hiding and pretending to be gone, Luigi never was sure what these types did to make their dramatic exits work. He didn't even know all of Mario's tricks, and he probably never would.

Soon, they were on the road again. Pikachu was riding Ash's shoulder, chattering away to his trainer, and Bulbasaur was on Luigi's head.

"You know," Misty said. "I hate to admit this, but that guy had a point. Luigi, if you don't train Bulbasaur, you really could find yourself in a dangerous situation, especially travelling with us."

"Hmm, maybe…" Honestly, he'd planned to just handle any dangerous things that came up on his own, hopefully leaving his new friends none the wiser about what happened. But… Come to think of it, it was always easier with someone by his side. Mario always said that an ideal world wouldn't need the Mario Brothers, and that it was their duty to impart their skills on other people. "Alright… I'll try. Bulbasaur seemed to like it, anyway."

"Great!" Ash said. "Hey, whenever you need some help, or a battle, me and Pikachu are happy to oblige!"

"Pika-pika!"

"Ah, thanks. I'll probably take you up on that, later."

"Cool! Hey, I just realized – You must know Professor Oak, right?" ("Just now?" Misty asked.)

"Um, I guess so. He kind of just gave me this thing," He pulled out his Pokédex, "And Bulbasaur, before shooing me out of his lab. He seemed really busy."

"He's a great friend of my mom's. And he's always busy this time of year. I've known him forever, even before the thing with… Um, You know what, I'll tell you that later. Pikachu lived with the Professor a really long time before we met, too! He's a really nice guy."

"… Yeah, he was," Luigi said. "I was really overwhelmed by everything, but he seemed good."

"Wonder what he's doing… Oh, right! I can call him!" He started fiddling with his watch, which Luigi took a sudden interest in. A watch phone? That was cool. Maybe Professor Gadd could invent something like that, instead of hacking his TV when he wanted to talk to him.

Then again, a watch was probably too small to use the Pixelator with, so there was no chance of that.

"… Hey, Pikachu, do you know how to work this thing?" Ash asked. Pikachu clambered down to Ash's wrist, and managed to get the device ringing in a few moments. "Thanks, bud." The mouse gave Ash a thumbs-up (or something quite close to it) and leapt back to his shoulder. It took a while, but eventually an image of Professor Oak appeared on the tiny screen.

"Ash! I'm terribly sorry, but there's a lot going on today. Oh, hello, Misty! And… Is that Luigi with you? You're travelling with Ash?"

"Uh, hi, Professor," Luigi said. "Yeah, since yesterday…"

"Bulbasaur!"

"Interesting… Does he know, Ash?"

"Know what?" Ash asked.

"Pika-chu…"

"Oh! Uh, no, not really," Ash said. "You see… Um…"

"We'll talk about that later. Luigi… I've actually run into a few issues with your registration. I'll need to talk with you later about them, but I'm busy right now, and may need to talk to Ash in private."

"That's fine," Luigi said. "Everyone's got their secrets. But, hey, if it's something I can help with, let me know, okeydokey?"

"You bet!" Ash said. "Well, everything's just… kind of crazy right now, you know?"

Luigi nodded. "Yeah. These last few days… It's been crazy. I've dealt with worse, I once fell into a hole to the past and had to fight off aliens, but Mario was with me then... Anyway, I'm going for a walk. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, I've probably gotten myself into a situation that's unlucky, painful, improbable, dangerous, or some combination of those. See you around!" He dashed off, quickly out of sight of Ash and Misty.

"Did either of you catch what he just said?" Misty asked. "Time-travelling alien invasions?"

"Curious indeed," Oak said. "But I honestly don't have time to dwell on it. There's been a lot going on these past couple of days. People vanishing overnight; gyms being destroyed; unknown objects appearing from nowhere; Pokémon suddenly starting to speak; new, unknown Pokémon appearing all over the world... I feel it's all connected to this, but there's too much going on to say, right now."

"Well, has anyone contacted you about time travel?" Misty asked. "I'm sure some people have figured out that you're the first person Ash will go to."

"Actually, yes – Both the Pewter City and Petalburg City gym leaders contacted me about this."

"Brock, May, and Max!" Ash exclaimed.

"Yes, all of them had things to say about you," Oak chuckled. "You're quite popular, it appears."

"What about my other friends?" Ash asked. "Like Serena, Clemont, Cilan…"

"The girl from the summer camp, and two more gym leaders?" Professor Oak asked. "No, I haven't heard from them. Kalos and Unova are quite some distance away, though."

"Oh… What about Iris, or Dawn?"

"… Dawn?" Professor Oak asked, an edge in his voice. "Johanna's daughter?"

"Yeah! Did you hear anything about her?" Ash asked eagerly.

"… Yes," Oak said. "I can't believe you haven't heard, it's been all over the news… She's the first of these mysterious disappearances."

"… What?" Ash asked. "Oh no! Professor, do you think she's okay?"

"… I hope so," Professor Oak said. "… I'm guessing that, much like you, she's found herself in another time and place. Hopefully, she's found herself with people willing and able to help. I've got to go, Ash, I'm very sorry, but I have five more people waiting to call me. I'll keep you up-to-date as much as possible. Good luck, my boy!"

* * *

 

After a few minutes at a run, Luigi slowed to admire the scenery of Viridian Forest.

"You know, it's really nice to have a forest that isn't constantly trying to kill you."

"Bulba?" The little green Pokémon asked from his spot atop Luigi's hat.

"Back home, all the forests are really dangerous. There's poison water everywhere, haunted woods where day never comes, endless mazes of twisted space…" Luigi said. "… You almost never see a place like this. It's really pretty refreshing."

Luigi walked in silence a bit longer.

"... I need to tell you something important. It's a secret, though," Luigi said. He brought Bulbasaur down, and looked him in the eyes. "Can I trust you to keep it, Bulbasaur?"

"Saur." Bulbasaur nodded.

"… Thanks." Luigi returned Bulbasaur to his head. "What I said before… That's the truth, but not all of it. I really am from the Mushroom Kingdom, and I'm really looking for my brother and friends. Earlier, I realized I really can't do this on my own. So, the truth…"

Luigi sat down under a tree, setting the Grass-type down next to him.

"I guess you could say I'm an alien," Luigi said. "I'm not sure, exactly, but I know this world is nothing like the one I'm from. The Mushroom Kingdom's a huge, magical country – Everyone's heard of it. But here, it's nothing."

Luigi sighed.

"... I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I guess I wanted to just be normal for a while. I'd never leave someone to get hurt, or worse, but… Having so many people depending on you, and judging you for everything you do … It's really stressful, and the sorts of things that happen to me… They're terrifying."

Luigi looked to Bulbasaur.

"... I've got no clue what I'm doing. My powers aren't really worth anything right now. So… I'll ask this properly." He held out his hand to Bulbasaur. "Friends and partners?"

Bulbasaur deliberated for a moment before sending out a vine and shaking Luigi's hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luigi battles! I wanted to give him a specific style in how he does, to contrast Ash - Everything is defensive or a counterattack, to reflect how Luigi usually is in the Mario & Luigi series; while Ash is all about speed and misdirection.
> 
> This chapter... The entire second half of the chapter was re-written. Originally, the battle didn't really lead to anything, it was just there, and the rest was just about them going to Pewter City. Now... Luigi's a trainer for real now.


	7. Here there be Dragons

Yoshi had so many questions on his mind. Where was Mario? Why did this city have so many humans? Where on Earth was this city, anyway? Did they even call this planet Earth? They must, they spoke English.

The strangest thing to Yoshi, though, was that only the humans spoke English. He knew that his skill with the language was unusual among yoshis, but, really? Not a single non-human seemed able to speak more than a few syllables.

"Oh, wow!" A little girl with blonde hair ran up to him. "So cool! Are you a Pokémon?"

"Bonnie!" A boy this time, who looked a lot like this little girl. Yoshi guessed he was her brother. "I'm terribly sorry about my sister, she gets very excited around new Pokémon."

"They're so cool, though, Clemont!" Bonnie protested. "Hey! Are you a Dragon-type? What's your name? Oh! Can you show me a move? That'd be so cool!"

"Yoshi…"

 _Crud._ Yoshi thought. _I didn't mean to say that!_

"Bonnie, you're crowding it," Clemont said.

"But it's so cute!" Bonnie got closer to Yoshi. "Show me a super-cool dragon move, Mr. Dragon Pokémon!"

Yoshi threw an egg, which exploded into rainbow-colored fireworks. He grinned – It had taken him a while to get that trick down, and he was quite proud of it even if it wasn't very useful.

"Ooh! So pretty!" Bonnie said.

"That's Egg Bomb, a Normal-type move!" Clemont said. "Wow! I didn't know any Dragon-types could learn that move!"

"Aw, I wanted a dragon move… Do you know a dragon move?"

Yoshi shook his head. How would someone even define a 'Dragon-type' move? Was it one of those weird things like 'Jump-type' magic?

"Aww…" Bonnie said. "Hey, Clemont! Look, that girl has a Pikachu!" Bonnie dashed off.

Clemont chuckled. "Sorry for all that. She's only five."

Yoshi nodded. He remembered how much of a handful he and the Mario Bros were at that age. They'd frequently spent all day playing on top of Mushroom Castle, much to the dismay of anyone trying to keep track of them, and the great fear of anyone unfamiliar with the Mario Bros' abilities.

"Now, I need to go make sure she doesn't…" Clemont trailed off. "She's trying to get me a girlfriend again! Bonnie, I told you to stop this a million times!" He dashed after his little sister, leaving Yoshi to laugh at their antics. Crazy sibling things… That definitely reminded him of the Mario Brothers.

"(Who am I going to ask for help?)" Yoshi wondered aloud, this time in yoshi language. He couldn't very well ask anyone around here – Either him speaking would be strange and draw attention to himself, or he couldn't understand a word of what the person he asked was saying. Not helping this, none of the signs were written in a language he knew how to read.

Yoshi continued wandering aimlessly around town, hoping one of the townspeople would say something remotely useful. Most of them seemed to be tourists, and ignored the green reptile-like creature walking around. That was a relief, at least – If he'd ended up somewhere where his looks were unusual, that'd make things even harder than they were already shaping up to be.

He heard someone saying a word that caught his ears (or whatever it was he had, he wasn't sure) – 'Professor'. He had experience with that word… Generally, not great experiences. On the other hand, a professor, no matter how much of a mad scientist, was probably someone he could trust. And if not, knock out and run away from, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

He followed them a bit, getting a general idea of where this 'Professor Sycamore' these girls seemed to want to go on dates with was, and took off at top speed. He quickly arrived at a large white building which looked like the sort of place a professor would be. Well, not E. Gadd, but a more… normal professor.

Yoshi knocked on the door, preparing for the worst.

"Hold on, I'll be just there!" A young man's voice shouted from inside. "Gible, I have to answer the door…"

There were various sounds from inside – Was he disorganized or just really busy? – Before the door was opened by a young man in a lab coat. Yoshi could definitely see why those girls had been talking about this guy… He looked a lot like those pictures the Princess called 'the sort of perfectly pretty pompous prince Toadsworth says I should marry', except actually dressed like a normal person.

"Hi! I'm Professor Sycamore!" He said, holding out his hand to shake. Yoshi did so. "So… Did you come here with your trainer, or something else?"

"I'm a bit lost, and I need help with something," Yoshi said.

"Well, then, that's…" Professor Sycamore trailed off. "Interesting! Very interesting! Well, come along inside, then! I'll get some snacks together, hang on just a moment."

So far, this was going better than Yoshi could've hoped for.

* * *

"Outstanding…" Sycamore said. "Another world, without Pokémon… Simply marvelous! It's long been hypothesized that such things exist, but there's been no concrete evidence before now."

"So… Can you help me?" Yoshi asked.

"… Well, I can't honestly say that I know how to help," Sycamore said. "I do, however, have a few friends in a similar situation. Would you like to meet them?"

Yoshi nodded.

"Great!" Professor Sycamore stood up. "Alain! Bonnie! Come meet our guest, please, he's got quite a story to tell!"

A boy in his early teens came into the room. He seemed to have dressed himself with a very specific motif – lots of black, to match his hair, and a blue scarf. On his shoulder rode an orange salamander with a fire on its tail.

Following him was the girl from earlier, only she'd suddenly gotten a few years older and an orange gerbil-thing was riding her head.

"So cute!" She said. "Hey, are you a Pokémon?"

"Uh, no," Yoshi said. "… Didn't I meet you earlier? Only I think you were shorter…"

"You must have met mini-me!" She said. "Well, you see, there was this whole thing, and timey stuff, and a spark and a boom and now I'm here!"

"... What?" Yoshi asked, completely lost. "Um, okay, the professor says you're in a similar situation to me? Are you from another dimension too?"

"We came back in time," Alain said. "I have memories of a future that no longer is."

"Why do you still talk like that?" Bonnie asked. "Anyway, yeah! I'm from further in the future, but there's another me running around! She's so tiny and silly! And this is Dedenne! He's my first Pokémon!" She held out Dedenne, who chirped a greeting to Yoshi.

"Ah, yes, there's a lot about this world that I'm sure you have questions about," Sycamore said. "Though, I believe these two would be better suited to answer them. They're trainers, and have been travelling for quite some time. I'll leave you to it, I've left Gible alone a bit too long."

"Yeah, don't worry!" Bonnie said. "I learned all sorts of stuff travelling with Ash, and Squishy, and Dedenne."

"I'll help in any way I can," Alain said. "… But, I need to ask, what do you need help with? Just getting home?"

"… Yeah, if that's all, just go to Reflection Cave and find the right mirror," Bonnie said. "All of the mirrors lead to different worlds. I've seen a few different ones, I bet yours is in there somewhere."

"Um. Well, I actually came here on purpose," Yoshi explained. "I'm looking for my friends, Mario and Luigi. They're twins who wear red and green hats and have _really_ bright blue eyes. It's possible they look different than I remember, they're normally human but just about anything can make them transform."

"How does that work?" Alain asked. "Humans don't just turn into things. Neither do most Pokémon, for that matter."

"Magic!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Ash has seen it a few times, and me too. He was a Pikachu for a day or so."

Alain looked at Bonnie in disbelief. Bonnie laughed. "Come on! You weren't there for Xerneas and Hoopa and Arceus, but you saw all that stuff with Greninja and Team Flare!"

Alain sighed. "Never mind. So… What? Are we going on a journey, to find your friends?"

"That sounds like a great idea!"

"The question is, where do we start?" Alain asked.

"I didn't think this through," Yoshi admitted. "Mario's definitely going to end up on the news sooner or later, but Luigi… If they've been separated, he'll be tough to find."

"Why don't we just ask Olympia?" Bonnie suggested. "She's a psychic!"

"Yeah, that'd work…" Yoshi remembered Mario's stories – Psychics were frequently a big help if he ever managed to get lost on where to go next. "Where's she live?"

"Anistar City," Bonnie said. "Squishy can get us there really fast!"

"… Or we could _not_ use a Legendary Pokémon as transport," Alain said. "First, though… Yoshi, do you know what a Pokéball is?"

Yoshi shook his head.

"It's a device used to transport Pokémon… It also registers the Pokémon, and prevents them from being captured by another trainer," Alain explained. "… Yoshi, I think you should allow me or Bonnie to try and catch you. This way, we can determine if it works, and protect you from being captured by any random trainer who decides to throw a ball at you."

"… Okay?" Yoshi said, unsure.

"Right." Alain pulled out a red and white metal sphere. "Pokéball, go!"

* * *

"That was weird," Yoshi said, after being released.

"I'm honestly surprised it worked," Alain said. "If you're from another world, you aren't a Pokémon…"

"There's Pokémon in other worlds," Bonnie said. "There's some with just Pokémon and no humans, even! But Yoshi speaks human language… Then again, so does Meowth… Can you talk like a Pokémon?"

"(Like this?)" Yoshi asked. "(This is the language my people speak.)"

"Denne?" Dedenne seemed very confused, and chattered away at Bonnie.

"Well, that's definitely not Pokéspeech…" Bonnie said. "It's close enough to trick people, I think, but Dedenne can't understand you."

"So why did it work?"

Professor Sycamore chose that moment to return, a small dragon-like creature trailing behind him. "What worked?"

"Pokéball," Alain said. "I tried it on him, to see if it would work and protect him if it did."

"Ah! Yes, good thinking, Alain." The professor scratched the dragon Pokémon under her chin, before turning to Yoshi. "Pokéballs have three requirements for a potential capture: The target must not be registered to another Pokéball, there's a DNA lock against capturing humans, and the target has to have a kind of energy specific to Pokémon and humans… And, seemingly, creatures from your world as well. There is a chance of failure even if these conditions are met, but the ball simply won't pull in a target that does not meet them."

"That sounds complicated," Bonnie said.

"I suppose it is… So, have you figured out what you're going to do?" Professor Sycamore asked. "I really wouldn't mind having you three stay here, but I imagine you've got quite a bit on your minds, hm?"

"Yes, Professor," Alain said. "We want to consult Olympia, the Anistar Gym Leader."

"Hmm… Not a bad idea," Professor Sycamore said. "No guarantees, of course, but if there's something big going on – and there clearly is – She's likely to be the first one with some idea of what."

"She predicted that big thing with Squishy and Team Flare," Bonnie said. The Professor looked at her curiously, but didn't pry. "She's got to know, for sure!"

"Well, then, get ready, everyone. I'll drive us there." Professor Sycamore grinned. "This is exciting, isn't it? Going on an adventure… Next thing you know, I'll start writing poetry!"

"I don't think the world needs another Professor Oak…" Bonnie said.

Professor Sycamore laughed. "No, I suppose not. Well, seeing as my lab wasn't destroyed this time, I might have to find something new to keep things interesting!" He returned Gible, and began walking to the door. "Well, I'll tend to a few things out front, and get the car started. Once you're ready, come on out. We shouldn't be gone more than a few hours."

~ONE LONG AND BORING DRIVE LATER~

"Ah, Anistar City," Professor Sycamore said. "It's been quite a while since I've been here! And the sundial's just as marvelous! Perhaps I can finally get around to studying it in depth… No, not today, we have work to do, don't we? Have you been here before, Alain?"

"Um, yes. My first gym battle."

"I was travelling through Kanto, so my first was against Damian, the Seafoam Gym Leader!" Bonnie closed her eyes, trying to remember something. "Um. I don't think his gym has been built yet… That's so weird."

Yoshi stayed quiet, taking in the city around them. There was a huge crystal standing over the ocean that dominated the scene – That must be the sundial, but it didn't look like any sundial Yoshi had seen. It looked more like one of those ancient artifact things that were always showing up whenever he went on an adventure with the Mario Brothers.

"Lysandre tried to use that thing to destroy the world," Bonnie said, noticing Yoshi's interest.

"Lysandre?" Sycamore asked. "… The same from Lysandre Labs?"

"Yeah, he's real mean!" Bonnie said. "He's the leader of Team Flare. I think the labs were their super-secret headquarters."

Alain nodded silently, the Professor barely catching it out of the corner of his eye.

"That can't be…" Sycamore said. "Lysandre is a well-respected researcher. I haven't met him personally, but nothing I've heard…"

"... I trusted him, too," Alain said quietly. "But what Bonnie says is true. He wants to use the power of Zygarde and Mega Evolution to transform the world, and remove every person and Pokémon he deems imperfect."

Bonnie held up a Pokéball. "Well, he's not getting one of those things! 'Cuz Squishy's right here! Uh, that's Zygarde, Professor."

"Interesting… But you brought it from the future, didn't you?" Professor Sycamore asked. "There's another Zygarde from this time around somewhere, then. Mega Evolution isn't common, but it's hardly rare, especially here in Kalos."

"So he could enact his plans at any time," Alain said.

"Don't worry about that," Professor Sycamore said. "The timeframe probably won't change too much, and the Gym Leaders and I can handle things as long as we know what we're up against. I'm sure you can focus on finding this young man's friends."

"… I'm the same age as you," Yoshi pointed out.

Professor Sycamore laughed once more. "I guess you'd know better than me." He slowed the car, parking in front of a round building encased by huge golden rings. "This is the Anistar Gym. Olympia should be inside. Come along, now!"

Yoshi jumped out of the car, while Bonnie and Alain took the more reasonable approach of using the door. The Pokémon professor, the dragon from another world, and the two trainers with their respective starters riding their shoulders, walked into the gym.

The interior was, if anything, more bizarre. A large round room that looked like it was floating in space, with a floor that looked like it was made of light.

Yoshi whistled. They didn't have stuff like this in the Mushroom Kingdom.

The only inhabitants of the gym were a purple-haired woman and two cats, white and navy blue in color, glowing with a blue light and floating above the center of the battlefield.

"I meet you alone, in anticipation of what we must discuss." Olympia opened her eyes, looking to the six before her. "You have a question that may be difficult for me to answer, and I have a premonition of great danger that may be difficult for you to accept."

The Psychic-type gym leader looked to Yoshi, and levitated down to float in front of him.

"You ask where your friends may be found," Olympia said. "I see your past with your friends clearly, but an aura of chaos surrounds their present and future. The one in red is impossible for me to perceive, the green one nearly so. I can see that he travels with a young man and his faithful Pikachu, but for how long and where I cannot say."

"Ash!" Bonnie said. "It's gotta be Ash…"

Alain nodded. If half the stuff he'd heard of Ash was true, it probably was.

"And you wish to ask of the great danger I speak," Olympia said, turning to Alain. "Know this! A day will come in the future when the bounds between this world and the distorted world will collapse! A beast will emerge, with unprecedented powers and strength! All in its wake will be destroyed, until its lust for revenge has finally been sated. The boy and his Pikachu will stand tall, but alone they will never succeed."

Alain stood there, shaken, and sighed. Battles were one thing, and this was another entirely that he did not want to go through again.

"Make no mistake. I will not stand idly by. We cannot prevent this beast's awakening, only prepare to stand together when the time comes."

"That is how these things go," Professor Sycamore mused. "I suppose we'll be on our way. Thank you for meeting with us, Olympia."

"It is always a pleasure, Augustine. May we next meet in less dire times." She levitated back up to her cat Pokémon, and continued with the meditation she'd been doing before they entered.

"Come along, then," Professor Sycamore said. "She's not much one for greetings and partings."

"So… I guess we're going to Kanto, then," Bonnie said, as she piled into the backseat of Sycamore's convertible. "That's where Ash is, so that's gotta be where your friend is, too! Yippee!"

"What's Kanto?" Yoshi asked. "And this beast she was talking about? That's really worrying me a lot more than finding Mario and Luigi!"

"Kanto is a distant region, where my – and Bonnie's – friend Ash hails from," Alain said. "The beast sounds like the legend of Giratina to me."

Professor Sycamore nodded, as he started the car. "That's most likely. There's others it could mean, but none as powerful as Giratina."

"How do we deal with it?" Yoshi asked. "… Mario and Luigi can probably handle it, but they're not unstoppable."

"Giratina and Squishy are both dragon types, so Squishy's moves should be super-effective," Bonnie said. She shrugged. "It's not perfect, but it's not like we don't have backup…"

"Giratina is incredibly powerful," Professor Sycamore cut in. "You'll need to take everything you've got against it."

"We'll definitely do that," Alain assured him.

"Good. And I'll make sure we've got people behind you, too. Now, the real question is how to get you all to Kanto. Yoshi can pass as a Pokémon, so he's no problem."

"Squishy can take us!" Bonnie said. "That's how I got there last time."

"… It's a _Legendary Pokémon_ ," Alain pointed out, Charmander echoing his trainer. "And… It's just alright with that?"

"She doesn't have identification, so it's likely your only option." Professor Sycamore said. "Just make sure to check in with Professor Oak first thing. I can take you as far as Couriway Town today, but you're on your own for the rest. Is that alright?"

"Sounds great, Professor!" Bonnie said, giving him a thumbs-up.

 _'Yes, that is acceptable'_ Yoshi jumped at the sudden voice in his head, and looked around wildly.

Sycamore looked surprised. "Was that Squishy, then?"

"Yeah, that was Squishy!" Bonnie said. "It can use telepathy! Usually it only talks to me, though."

"Training a telepathic Pokémon… I've always wondered what it'd be like to truly speak to them."

"Yeah, it's real cool alright," Bonnie agreed. "Oh! Ash has told me about loads of talking Pokémon. You see, there's this Meowth that follows him around…"

* * *

Regardless of the insane things going on, Brock couldn't simply leave the Pewter Gym without a Gym Leader. He might be able to train Forrest enough in time for Ash to arrive, or he might get lucky and his father return again.

He'd just finished a gym challenge, just as he had this same day last time. The main difference was that he now recognized this trainer who never even gave his name.

"I won. So give me the gym badge."

"Your Turtwig is very strong." Brock took a Boulder Badge out of his pocket to hand it to the purple-haired boy. "However, if you continue to treat your Pokémon-"

"I don't need the advice of a gym leader as pathetic as you," Paul snapped, taking the badge and turning to walk out.

Brock sighed. He'd forgotten just how Paul could be. Just another thing to add to the list of the future events he needed to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. So I didn't work on this story for like a week, because my cousin was visiting and I wanted to spend time with him. Sure, we can play Terraria together online, but it's really not the same. There's work-in-progress versions of several chapters, but they're likely to see huge revisions before they're posted. I think next time I'll cover Pewter City and possibly Mount Moon - Might split that into two chapters though. There's quite a bit of dialogue... Oh well. Part of the reason behind this story is that I want to explore these characters. Sooner or later, I'll have a Mario-centric chapter, which will probably not have much dialogue.
> 
> Clemont is unfamiliar with Alolan Exeggutor, and Jump-type moves are actually a thing in Super Mario RPG. Unlike most people in the Mushroom Kingdom, Yoshi has realistic expectations of what Mario and Luigi can do - He knows they're strong, but he's perfectly aware that they have limits and are fallible.
> 
> Having traveled with Ash, Bonnie is liable to getting in weird situations. The strangeness of these situations is ramped up a bit thanks to how curious she is and how much she goes looking for them, but they're decidedly less frequent than the ones that find Ash without him even trying. Relatedly, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon exists. Player and Partner characters are the same as in animated specials and shorts... Yes, even though the partner can't be female in international versions of Gates To Infinity.
> 
> ...It's Paul. He did travel through Kanto before. I am not a fan. Not even close. Other characters sort of like him... I can see developing into better people, given time. But he's terrible.


	8. A Change of Plans

"Alright!" Ash said, stopping them in a clearing and releasing Caterpie and Pidgeotto. "So! Brock uses Rock and Ground-type Pokémon! You know what that means, right?"

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu cheered.

"That's right, special training!" Ash yelled. "Pikachu already knows Iron Tail, but he might be a little rusty, so we'll need to practice that. Caterpie, I'm pretty sure you can learn Energy Ball once you're evolved into Butterfree, so we'll work on that!"

Caterpie trilled.

"Really? Great!" Ash said. "Hm… I wonder…"

"And you're not going to explain any of that, are you?" Misty asked.

"It's nothing," Ash said. "Pikachu, I want you to give Pidgeotto some pointers so it can learn Steel Wing!"

Pikachu saluted.

"There's no use talking to him when he's like this," Misty told Luigi. "So… What are you gonna do while we wait it out?"

Luigi scratched his head. "Well, I'm not sure what I can do… I guess I'll go a bit away and do some training with Bulbasaur."

"Great. Wonderful. Maybe Staryu has an idea…" Misty threw her own Pokéball, bringing out a starfish with a jewel in its center. "Hey, help me keep Ash from injuring himself, okay?"

"Hiyah!" the starfish said… Somehow, as it didn't seem to have a mouth.

"Um. Well, see you guys later," Luigi said, and walked into the forest.

"Good luck!" Ash yelled to Luigi.

Something exploded behind him.

"All right, Pikachu, Iron Tail's as great as ever!" Ash yelled.

"Stop making things explode!" Misty yelled. "You'll ruin my bike! _Again_!"

Once Luigi was far enough away, he lifted Bulbasaur down to the ground. "Alright, so I need to figure out what you already know how to do, and where your skills might need some improvement."

Bulbasaur nodded. That was about how it went with any new partnership between Pokémon and trainer.

"So… When I get into a sticky situation, my usual style is to keep out of the way, and quickly strike when there's an opening. Dodge and counter," Luigi said. "I usually end up playing support, I guess you'd say, to my brother. So… I want you to try and hit me with an attack, while I try and dodge. I'll also try and tag you, so see if you can tell when that's coming, too."

"Bulba?" Hit him with an attack? That seemed just a tad dangerous.

"If you're worried about me, I'll be fine," Luigi assured him. "Are you ready?"

Bulbasaur sighed, and nodded.

"Right. Let's go!" Luigi leapt straight up into the trees and vanished instantly. Bulbasaur looked left and right for his trainer, but couldn't see any sign of him until he felt a gloved hand brush his bulb, and saw a blur of blue and green flipping over his head and back into the trees.

"Don't rely on just your eyes!" Luigi shouted from above. "Figure out where I am, and predict where I'm going! Every opponent has a tell!" The direction of his voice changed slightly through the sentence, and Bulbasaur launched a leaf right ahead of where he heard him.

"Good! That was close!" Luigi called out. "Don't just use your ears, either! Think about what's unique about you, and use that to your advantage! Everyone's different!"

Unique to him… Well, there was something he could do that other Bulbasaur couldn't. He used Dig. Underground, he could hear the light footfalls whenever Luigi touched down on the ground for a second. Right as Luigi was landing, he burst out from under him, sending his trainer up into the air.

He quickly latched onto Luigi's legs with Vine Whip, and began charging Solar Beam.

"Ha ha!" Luigi said, just before the attack fired. When the beam of light ended, Luigi was there – A bit scuffed up, but mostly unharmed. Bulbasaur released him, and beamed.

"Digging underground, and catching your foes by surprise – Good job," Luigi said. "And then keeping me in place while you charge a finisher – Good thinking!" Luigi sat down. "So… Hmm. You mostly fight at long range, then, but have a couple of tricks for close up – Kind of the opposite of me, so that's good. When we get into a sticky situation, _and we will_ , that'll be a big help."

"So!" Luigi stood up and clapped. "Let's do that exercise a few more times – You'll need to have a good variety of tactics to deal with any foe."

The pattern continued for a few more hours, and every time Bulbasaur figured out something new, Luigi would switch up his own tactics. As it turned out, he was ridiculously fast and very good at dodging. Apart from a few times when Luigi somehow managed to trip over a tree branch twenty feet off the ground, get his head stuck in a rock, or some other impossibly bad stroke of luck, actually managing to hit him was quite a challenge.

When Luigi and Bulbasaur returned to Ash, the former was covered in grass stains (apart from his strangely pristine hat), and the latter was winded from trying to keep up with his trainer's movements.

Misty had an annoyed expression on her face as Staryu helped her tend to Ash. The young boy was singed all over, but seemed in high spirits anyway. "I swear, Ash, you've gone insane since I last saw you. Why on earth did you think that having Pikachu aim at you was a good idea?"

"Well, Pidgeotto's weak to Electric, and Metapod can't do that much yet." Ash said. "I'm the best target. Plus, we've done this loads of times! Just… Not while you were around. Look, Luigi did it too!"

Misty whipped around to see the older boy standing there, even messier than Ash. "Why did _you_ think it was a good idea? I thought you had more sense from him."

"Most of this is actually from me tripping over tree branches," Luigi said. "I had to gauge what Bulbasaur can do, and train him to hit a target he can't see, so I hid in the trees. I'm pretty light on my feet, so it worked out. Next time, we're going to be doing dodge training. I'm going to throw stuff and he'll try and dodge as much as he can."

"Saur." Bulbasaur had agreed to that, although he was still skeptical. Luigi had proven to be superhumanly athletic in every area so far, which meant that it could end up painful. Still, he didn't think Luigi would risk seriously injuring him.

"Oh, hey, look at this!" Ash said, holding up a green cocoon with eyes. "Caterpie evolved into Metapod while you were gone!"

"Evolved?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, Caterpie evolve really quickly," Ash said. "I hope you're there to see it when he evolves into Butterfree! Or when Pidgeotto evolves into Pidgeot!"

"Um, okay then," Luigi said. Bulbasaur was pretty sure that he didn't have a clue what evolution was, which… That was probably to be expected.

"… You're both crazy." Misty said. "And look, it's getting late. We'd better hustle if we want to make it to Pewter City."

"Right," Luigi said, putting Bulbasaur on his head once more. "… Which way is it again?"

"Just keep up…" Misty said, walking off. "We'll be there soon enough."

Ash looked at Luigi and shrugged. Pikachu jumped to his shoulder as he returned Pidgeotto and Metapod, and the unlikely group was on the road once again.

* * *

Brock didn't know exactly where he was going, but he knew this was something he needed to deal with sooner than later. Hopefully it would go as well as it had last time, but that time was because of Ash's sheer determination and rampant stupidity. He was taking a bit of a gamble, but it was probably worth it.

He reached the cliff face between Pewter City and Viridian forest, and began climbing his way up the rocks. With little trouble, he soon reached his destination – A stall selling rocks. Brock wondered why he'd never figured this out the first time around, but that didn't matter here and now.

"Ah, hello, Br… Young man. May I interest you in some rocks? They're the highest quality around!" The rock salesman, or, rather, Flint, Brock's father, was nervous.

"Dad."

Flint sighed. "So, you knew it was me…" He removed his disguise, revealing his appearance could best be described as an older version of Brock. "… What's this about? If you want to tell me about how terrible a father I am, I already know it all."

"No, dad," Brock said. "… I know that it's tempting to go on a journey. And I don't blame you for wanting one. You couldn't have known mom would just take off like that. You could've actually come home sometime in the last year, though."

"… You're not mad at me?" Flint asked hopefully.

"Well, not anymore. Maybe a little upset," Brock admitted. "But I forgave you a long time ago. I came here because I wanted to tell you that I'd like to go on a journey. I want to learn to take care of Pokémon, so I can be a Pokémon Breeder, or maybe a Pokémon Doctor. So…"

"You want me to be the Pewter City Gym Leader again?" Flint asked.

"Well, maybe. Forrest has been looking forward to being Gym Leader for years, and I know he's ready. Mostly, I want you to take care of the little ones, be their dad again."

Flint frowned. "It's been so long… Would I even know what to do?"

"Don't worry about that," Brock said. "I'm not leaving quite yet. We'll have time for you to get reacquainted with everyone, and learn everything you've got to do. So, what do you say? Do you want to give this another try?"

Flint smiled at his eldest son. "I think I do, Brock." He laughed, and it warmed Brock's heart to see. "Let's go see your brothers and sisters."

* * *

Ash's travelling group had stopped at the Pewter City Pokémon Center for the night. They'd barely managed to make it there before they closed the doors for the night. Nurse Joy ushered them quickly to an available room, after a short conversation with Luigi finding out about the strong family resemblance of the Joys.

Pikachu wasn't paying much attention to the conversation. He'd gotten used to the Joys and Jennys pretty quickly, especially with Brock around. He was more interested in Bulbasaur – He seemed to be deep in thought about something.

Pikachu didn't approach him about it until after Ash was asleep. He hopped up to Luigi's bed, and the older boy began patting his head absentmindedly, which was nice.

"(Hello, Pikachu,)" Bulbasaur said.

"(Hi. He told you his secret.)" Pikachu stated.

"(What?)" Bulbasaur asked. "(How…)"

"(That's good! Don't tell me,)" Pikachu said. "(I want to figure it out in my own way! Is it at least interesting?)"

"(… Yes.)" Bulbasaur said.

"(Alright. See you later, Bulbasaur. I'm going to go explore now!)" He hopped off the bed, waving to Luigi and Bulbasaur before opening the door and heading out into the great beyond… Of the rest of the Pokémon Center.

Pikachu had always loved exploring, just as his parents had. He barely remembered them, but their love of exploring had stayed with him through the years. If only he could somehow tell them he was safe and happy… Relatively safe, anyway.

The first floor of a Pokémon Center was always where the interesting stuff was. Every Center was different – Some had rooms with a lot of workout equipment, some had libraries, he'd even once seen a miniature planetarium.

This center had a small geological exhibit, which was pretty interesting. It surprised him just how many varieties of one mineral there could be. He was walking through the halls on the ground floor when he noticed another Pokémon, sitting in wait of an ambush and staring at his own reflection in a hand mirror someone had left on the floor.

"(Croagunk?)" Pikachu asked. "(Why are you here?)"

Croagunk looked at Pikachu, and stared.

"(… Are you sitting here to ambush Brock when he flirts with Nurse Joy?)" Pikachu asked.

Croagunk, unsurprisingly, gave the same response.

"(More importantly, _how_ are you here?)" Pikachu was bewildered, and somewhat nervous around the odd Poison-type. "(Sinnoh is really far away…)"

Croagunk stared.

"(… Good talk,)" Pikachu said, moving around him. "(I'll just… go…)"

When Pikachu looked back at Croagunk, he'd turned back to the hand mirror. Pikachu shuddered. Croagunk was a friend, but he'd always been kind of creepy.

He walked along a bit longer, and eventually heard Nurse Joy talking to someone. He quickly dashed over to the door he'd heard her in, and stood by it, listening.

"If you needed to talk to Brock, why didn't you just call him?" Nurse Joy asked. "And why call at midnight?"

"It's not easy to contact Gym Leaders," A man's voice. Pikachu recognized it, but couldn't quite place it.

"Even for the Champion?" Nurse Joy asked. Pikachu's eyes widened. "And why-"

Pikachu stumbled through the door in shock, drawing the attention of both Nurse Joy and the red-haired man on the screen.

"A Pikachu?" Nurse Joy asked, leaning down to pick the little mouse up. "What are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be with your trainer?"

Lance laughed. "I know that Pikachu! So, Ash Ketchum is there?"

"Um… Yes, a trainer named Ash Ketchum came in earlier… How do you know him?"

"He's helped me a few times before. Other Champions, too," Lance said. "I, and a few others, have travelled back in time."

"Time travel…" Nurse Joy said. "I know some of my cousins have dealt with that, but…"

"This is different," Lance said. "And, because of that, I'm trying to set up a meeting to assess the situation and discuss solutions. If you could pass on the message, I'd like Ash and Brock to attend, along with any friends they think appropriate."

Nurse Joy sighed. "I'll pass on the message, Lance… Does this sort of thing always happen to Champions?"

"… Mostly when Ash Ketchum is around," Lance admitted. "I didn't realize it at first, but he is quite a trouble magnet."

"I see…" Nurse Joy said. "Well, as long as he doesn't blow up a Pokémon Center…"

Pikachu looked away from Nurse Joy, remembering the time he'd done just that to the Viridian Center. She wasn't paying attention to him, though. Most humans didn't seem to think much of him, or treated him like a child… Which he was, technically, but people still treated Ash with a lot more respect than they did him.

Lance laughed. "I know that Pikachu you're holding causes things to explode by accident on a regular basis. Anyway, good-bye, Nurse Joy. I'll figure out the exact details of the meeting and send them to you by morning. Rest well tonight!"

After saying her own goodbyes, Nurse Joy set Pikachu back on the floor. "Go find your trainer, little one."

"(Sorry about eavesdropping,)" Pikachu said.

"You know, you're awfully cute… Do you remember where your trainer is?"

Pikachu sighed. Yes, he'd only been told by a million humans that he was cute. At least this one was older than him and wasn't attempting to hug him to death. He nodded to answer Nurse Joy's question, that he definitely knew where Ash was. At least he hoped so, Ash had a tendency to get terribly lost even with someone with a decent sense of direction riding his shoulder.

Once he was in the hallway, he noticed that Croagunk and his mirror had both vanished without a trace, which wasn't really unexpected. Pikachu had asked about his habit of vanishing and appearing out of nowhere once, but had only gotten the usual stare as an answer.

When he returned to the room, Bulbasaur was asleep at the foot of Luigi's bed, while the blue-eyed teenager was still awake, and staring at the ceiling. Something was bothering him, just like since they'd met him. Pikachu wished that he just could ask Luigi what was wrong, but the odds of him understanding him weren't good, and the odds of Ash conveying what he said clearly weren't much better.

In the end, Pikachu got into his usual sleeping spot (on top of Ash), and was out for the count.

* * *

Ash didn't get a chance for a real gym battle against Brock that morning. In fact, he and Misty didn't even get the chance to go to the Pewter Gym again. Brock was already at the Pokémon Center when they woke up and Nurse Joy had an important message from the Champion himself.

Luigi eventually woke up halfway through breakfast, and quickly proved that Ash was no longer the champion of inhaling as much food as possible in a small amount of time. As they were leaving the Pokémon Center and setting off for Mount Moon, Luigi introduced himself to Brock.

"Um, hi. I'm Luigi. The second Mario Brother," Luigi added. He knew that none of them would get what that meant, but he was used to introducing himself that way. "My big bro got lost, so I'm trying to find him."

"I see… I'm Brock, former Pewter Gym Leader, and aspiring Pokémon Doctor," Brock introduced himself.

"Yeah… They told me a lot about you. Misty talked about your cooking a lot."

"I'm not surprised," Brock said. "When we used to travel together, I was always the one to cook. Ash is actually pretty good, as long as he has a recipe. Misty doesn't cook, though."

"Ah… When me and my bro are on the road, we always work together. Mario's good at getting the fire right, and I do the cooking part…" Luigi trailed off.

"You said he got lost, right? Any ideas where to find him?"

"Wherever there's trouble," Luigi said. "It follows us wherever we go."

Brock looked to Ash. "With him around, that's either going to make things incredibly easy or incredibly difficult."

"The latter," Luigi said confidently. "I know how my life works.

"We might get lucky."

Luigi shook his head. "We won't. Anyway… Do you have any idea where we're going?"

"That's right, you were asleep. We're going to a meeting at the Vermillion City Pokémon Center in a week. Lance – Before you ask, yes, _that_ Lance – wants our help with the whole-"

Misty clapped her hand over Brock's mouth. "We didn't tell him that part!" She snapped at the older boy. Once she removed her hand, Brock stared at her in disbelief (not that Luigi could tell).

"… So you told him _everything_ , except for that one _very important_ detail," Brock confirmed. "… How did you manage this long?"

"Hey, uh, if it's a secret – and I get the feeling it's the same thing they were talking to Professor Oak about – Then I'm not going to pry," Luigi said. "Stars know, I've got my own secrets... As long as I keep mine, you're entitled to yours."

"I suppose that's fair…" Brock said. "… Anyway. The fastest way to Vermillion City is through Mount Moon. The caves can get pretty dark, but it's a fairly straightforward path through."

"Caves?" Luigi asked, memories rushing through his head. "… I'm way overdue to be nearly crushed by ten tons of rock. I'm going to climb over the mountain instead."

"Not a good idea. Mount Moon's a pretty tough climb – The cave system is a lot easier to go through."

"I'm a good climber," Luigi said. "And the cave will certainly try to kill me."

"Caves don't have minds of their own," Misty grumbled. "They can't _try_ to do anything."

"Trust me on this one…" Luigi said, looking to the looming mountain. "The universe will _always_ find a way to cause me pain."

* * *

Far away, a wizard puzzled over the unusual data she'd uncovered over the last few days. Something strange had happened, and she was determined to find out what it was. If not what, at least where it was, so she could stop it.

From her appearance, you might not guess at first that she was a wizard. Right now, she was simply dressed in practical clothes for field work, the only unusual thing being that they were pink and purple in color. She did often wear a navy-blue hooded cape, but that was hanging on the wall at the moment, and capes didn't draw as much attention in Blackthorn City as they did in other places. Apart from her striking blue eyes, there was little to distinguish her from any other woman in her fifties.

Her apprentice was working on her own projects on the opposite side of the room. She was a lot younger, only seventeen years old, and much more into the 'witch' aesthetic, with her red hair styled to look like it defied gravity, sporting both a black hat and cloak to complete the look. A Murkrow perched on a chair next to her, keenly observing the potion she was developing.

Lily took a break for a moment to check on her mentor again. She was still completely absorbed in her work, just like she'd been the past few days. At first, Lily was glad for the chance to develop her own potions instead of learning more traditional spells, but after a while she'd began to grow worried.

"Miss Luna?" Lily spoke up. The wizard didn't seem to hear her. "Um, Lunamia…"

"Hm?" Lunamia looked up. "Oh, sorry, Lily. I've been working on this."

"I know," Lily said. "That's all you've been doing for days. Is there some way I can help? Is there anything we can _do_?"

Luna was quiet, and sighed. "Lily, this is extremely important. I need to know if I can trust you not to freak out."

"Well, I think I've been pretty good about not freaking out, really," Lily said. "Remember the first time I saw you turn into Ninetales?"

"Yes, you did take that quite well…" Luna said. "I did warn you, though. In a way."

"Really?" Lily asked. "All I remember is a joke about being 'foxy'."

"Yes, a very clear warning for what I was about to do," Luna affirmed, smiling. Her expression turned serious again. "This isn't like that, Lily. This isn't anything I've done, and it could be extremely dangerous. I need to be sure that you're absolutely ready before I tell you more."

"Yes, well… I've been with you so far," Lily said. "I'm quite sure I can handle it."

Luna told her.

Lily had been very, very wrong.

* * *

"The whole world?" Lily asked again, to confirm that she hadn't heard wrong the first two times. A big part of her hoped that she had heard wrong, and that there wasn't some massive otherworldly power causing havoc and chaos throughout the entire world.

" _Yes_ ," Luna said. "I need to figure out how to stop it. I'll need to set things up for you to continue your training without me."

"No, no, that's alright," Lily said. "I'd like to help you. You are my teacher, after all, and I'd finally have the chance to travel around and find new ingredients!"

"That's the spirit," Luna said. "Thank you, Lily. If things get too tough, I'll bring you right back home, got it? Now, get ready. I'll go make my own preparations."

Lily nodded, and began to pack all her materials into her bag. Murkrow helped with some things she forgot, and also brought her some interesting-looking books to help stave off boredom (he was quite helpful in that way).

"Lily!" Lunamia called out "Have you seen my staff anywhere?"

"You left it behind the refrigerator again," Lily called back. She'd never quite understood how her mentor managed to constantly misplace a five-foot-long priceless magical artifact, but that was how it went.

Soon, Lily and Luna were both ready. Luna was wearing her cape now, and had her staff – A long length of wood and silver, inset with a sapphire at the end.

"Where are we going, actually?" Lily asked.

"Oh, that's right – Kanto," Luna said. "I've managed to narrow down the location to there – I believe it's in Pewter City or Viridian City at the moment, but it's a very rough estimate. I can warp us there, to start, but don't expect to be doing that much."

"I know," Lily said. She'd seen her mentor after several successive long-distance warps – Even for someone as powerful as Lunamia, bending space in such a way used a lot of energy, fast.

"Lily, I want to say – I'm glad you're coming with me," Luna said. "Saving the world alone gets, well, lonely."

"Well, I guess…" Lily trailed off. "Thanks, Miss Luna."

Luna nodded. "The warp should only take about five minutes to set up. Sit tight, Lily. We'll be on our way soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so... I have an excuse this time! ... Zelda is half of it. I was able to snag a Switch and Breath of the Wild on launch day. The other half is that I haven't actually stopped writing - By the time of this posting, I'm partway through writing the draft of Chapter 16.
> 
> Croagunk. Did you really think time travel was going to stop him from ruining Brock's "chances" with the ladies?
> 
> Pikachu likes exploring... And that makes sense for why he'd want to stay at Professor Oak's place, where he has a whole ranch to explore, instead of going with a trainer who for all he knows would just keep him in a Pokeball the whole time. That was a complete accident - I didn't see it coming until I was writing the draft. Originally, I was going to have it so that Gary's opinions on Ash gave Pikachu a poor image of him starting out. This is better.
> 
> Alright, so... Lily, from Hocus Pokemon! That one episode where Ash is turned into a Pikachu. I figured that you couldn't very well have Mario characters around without having some magic in the mix.
> 
> And... A character I made, as Lily's mentor. I didn't actually intend for their names to be 'Lily Luna', I picked the name before realizing that, but kept it. She's another reason this chapter took a while - I wanted to be absolutely sure whether I wanted to include her. I decided to go for it.
> 
> ... Also, Lance. Seems that other people remember and are making preparations to deal with the problem at hand.
> 
> Next up... Mount Moon. Things aren't the same as before, of course... And, well, you'll see. I don't think this will take three months.


	9. Over the Moon

For Luigi, Mount Moon was not a tough climb. This wasn't a good standard, since a tough climb for a Mario Brother was a rarity. As it was, Mount Moon was a near-constant fifty degree slope covered in trees – Even if it was a bit steep, the trees provided plenty of footholds for Luigi.

He'd left Bulbasaur with Ash, Brock, and Misty – He really didn't think the little… reptile-plant-thing, would be able to make the climb, or hang on to Luigi while he climbed. Brock had also noted that the caves were home to a lot of Pokémon that Bulbasaur had a type advantage against, while the mountainside itself was mostly empty. Bulbasaur had been all too happy to stay and help keep the others safe.

About halfway up the mountain, Luigi stopped in a treetop for a bit of a breather.

"This place is huge…" He looked out over the landscape of Kanto below. "What a view, though…" It reminded him a lot of the lands far from the Mushroom Kingdom… Densely forested, dotted with towns and cities here and there.

He wondered if Mario was in one of those towns, working to make the world a better place. Luigi reached out again, hoping for anything at all from his brother. Their bond phenomenon was still blocked, as he'd feared…

His thoughts were interrupted by an ominous creaking. Luigi knew exactly what that sound meant, and sighed. "And so it begins…"

Faster than the laws of physics could possibly allow, the tree's roots ripped out of the ground and it began rolling down the steep mountain, Luigi running atop the log as best he could. As it rolled, it picked up speed and swept aside more and more trees, causing a literal avalanche of logs. It wasn't long before the structural integrity of the soil itself was compromised, and Luigi was stuck, running on top of a tree careening down a mountain at two hundred miles an hour, in between two different avalanches.

"Universe, you really don't need to make up for lost time!" Luigi yelled at the sky. "I get the point! I've been getting the point for a quarter of a century! You can stop whenever you feel like it!"

Predictably, the Universe was having none of this and did not stop. Before long, the avalanche managed to roll over a small hollow in the mountain, causing the whole thing to come crashing down on top of Luigi.

* * *

Luigi pulled himself to his feet painfully. Now, he was somewhere dark – He could see something softly glowing, but couldn't make out any details of the walls. After a few minutes for his eyes to adjust, he could see he was in a cave – One that hadn't been a cave a little while ago, it seemed, as the ceiling was made of hundreds of logs supporting the boulders that had chased him down the mountain.

This, of course, left Luigi with no readily apparent way out that didn't involve entering a cave or causing another avalanche.

"Should've seen that coming…" The green plumber muttered. He could see what was in the center of the room now – A large rock, that glowed with a faint light and pulsed with magic. Luigi frowned. Or something very like magic, anyway… Whatever it was, it was definitely potent enough for him to transform if he got too close, and he really wasn't sure what it would do.

Now that he could see, he noticed some odd machines attached to the rock in a ring. He couldn't get too close, but he'd seen enough of E. Gadd's machines to have an idea of what they were.

"… Rockets? Why rockets?" Luigi asked. "Wait, it's a magical rock hidden on a mountain… _Of course_ someone's here to steal it."

He heard someone walking from the tunnel – Quickly as he could, he rolled into a small hollow in the wall. He had to share with a small pink creature that seemed to be frightened out of its mind, which he gave a quick and quiet apology before the mysterious figure entered the room.

In the dark, it was hard to make out – It was very short, though. "Oy vey… Dat plan's not gonna work now, is it?" A light flicked on, and Luigi could see it was the same tan cat from a couple of days before, wearing a mining helmet on his head. "What're the odds of dat, though? Dis didn't happen last time…" The cat clambered up the nearest wall and tried to push the boulders out of the way.

Luigi wanted to yell out at how he'd cause the whole thing to collapse, but nothing happened. The cat just wasn't strong enough to budge the boulders even half an inch. After about half a minute of trying, he just gave up.

"Man, I wish those lugs was here to help…" Meowth said, panting from the effort. "I guess I could use one of da rockets ta explode the ceiling…"

"No!" Luigi yelled. That was an even worse idea than pushing them.

"What the… Someone's pokin' their head where it don't belong!"

Luigi quickly rolled out into the open and hopped to his feet. "I am! And I'm not going to let you do anything to that pile of rocks! Or steal this one. I get the feeling that you're not the sort of person to steal a giant magical rock and use it for the good of the world."

"Heh… You're smarter than ya look, then!" Meowth said, jumping back and striking a pose. "A glittering, dark star that always shines bright. Dig it! While Meowth takes flight! That's right!"

Meowth sighed. "It's not the same without them… Uh, Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light! Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Um, I don't really want fight right now, but if you _want_ to be punched and kicked and stuff, then…"

"I'd rather not," Meowth said, pulling out some sort of cannon-like weapon. "Think fast!" Out of the cannon's end shot a rubber glove on a metal hose. Luigi wasn't expecting it, and by the time he realized what was going on he'd been pinned to the wall by the rubber hand.

Thankfully the wall held out and the ceiling didn't collapse. He honestly had expected it to.

"Huh. Almost expected more of a fight than dat," Meowth said. Luigi growled, and Meowth stepped back, eyes wide. "… You're way scarier than a dumb human has any right to be!"

Luigi glared. "Stop it, you're creepin' me out! Never mind, just let me do my work." Meowth set the cannon down, and looked away from Luigi.

Without being able to move his arms, there wasn't a whole lot Luigi could do. He could kick off the wall, but he wasn't really confident that he wouldn't bring the ceiling down on top of himself. The rubber hand was a lot sturdier than it looked, too. If he could use some magic on it, he could probably break it, but he couldn't exactly do that without use of his hands.

A flash of light appeared next to him, and he saw the pink creature from before. He could see it a bit more clearly – It looked like some sort of cross between a cat, a fairy, and a luma.

"Fairy," it whispered. Its hand began glowing, and it brought it down on the metal cord with a lot of force. To Luigi's amazement, it snapped in two.

"Huh?" Meowth had heard. "Hey! Clefairy! What are you doing?"

Clefairy yelled something at Meowth. Without the machine squeezing him, Luigi was able to quietly slip out of the rubber hand and prepare to fight.

"Right. How's a little pink ball and a dopey human – Wait, where did that hammer come from?" Luigi twirled the massive iron weapon in his hand, daring Meowth to make a move.

"FAIRY!" Clefairy yelled, its hand glowing again.

"Rock Smash…" Meowth said. "… I wish Jessie and James were here. Well… Time to blast off!" Meowth pulled a jetpack out of nowhere and took off into the cave system, the rockets attached to the giant stone quickly following suit.

"…Clef?"

"Let's go!" Luigi dashed down the tunnel. It took him approximately two seconds to realize that he was now inside a cave and what exactly that meant for him. He instinctively dodged to the side out of the way of a falling stalactite, and doubled his speed to outrun the cave collapsing behind him.

"Faaa-iry!" Clefairy was hanging on to his arm. Luigi wasn't sure how it got there, but quickly pulled it under his hat.

"You stay safe," Luigi said. He rolled through a gap in the rocks falling ahead of him, and saw light far ahead. Meowth and the rock were quickly closing the distance to the outside, and Luigi knew he had to speed up again.

In the space of less than an hour, he'd gone from walking along a nice forest path to running through a collapsing cave at dangerously high speeds. Sadly, the only part about that that made an unusual day was that the forest was surprisingly lacking in deadly purple water.

"Stop!" Luigi yelled as he closed in on Meowth.

"Huh?" Meowth turned back. "How'd you catch up? Never mind, I'm almost home free!" Meowth laughed. Clefairy appeared in front of him in a flash of light and punched him backwards, slowing him just a bit.

Luigi caught Clefairy and put it back under his cap. Meowth quickly recovered, but it had been just enough for Luigi to jump towards the stone and brush his hand against it.

"Hope this works…" Luigi said as a familiar energy filled him.

"What's with that dopey kid?" Meowth asked no one as he blasted out of the cave. "Oh well, mission success! I guess going solo worked out!"

A streak of red light shot out of the mountain past him.

"Now what?" Meowth asked. The red light stopped in midair, revealing itself to be the boy from earlier. His clothes had changed color, to a black and green getup. More importantly, his hands were glowing with red light and he was floating in midair. "Oh. Wait-wait-wait WHAT?"

"Put the magic rock thingy back!"

"What?" Meowth asked.

"Put it back!"

"… Yeah, no. Weird flying powers or not, the Moon Stone's a gold mine!"

Clefairy teleported behind Meowth and punched his jetpack.

"… Yeah, I sort of expected that." Meowth's jetpack exploded, sending him flying. "I'm blasting off again!"

Luigi flew down, catching Clefairy and putting it under his hat again. "Thanks!"

All that left was the Moon Stone, which had begun falling back to the ground. Luigi flew after it and grabbed on.

"Heavy…" Through some stroke of luck, Luigi managed to guide it safely down to where it had originally been. Well, moderately safely. He did end up crashing into the ground and causing the pile of rocks to collapse, but thankfully the Moon Stone itself was safe and he didn't accidentally cause another avalanche. Luigi collapsed on the ground, his transformation reversing the moment he hit it.

Clefairy said something to him. It seemed happy enough, but Luigi was exhausted from steering the Moon Stone. More and more creatures like Clefairy came out to cheer on the little pink thing and Luigi. He just lay there for a while, happy at a good days work.

"Fairy-clef?" Clefairy asked him.

"Hey… You did great."

Clefairy nodded. "Fairy! Clefairy," It pointed to Luigi.

"… Are you asking to come along with me?" Luigi asked. Clefairy nodded. "Sure… I need to rest a bit, though, and then we can get going… Glad to have you along."

It wasn't until he and Clefairy were traveling down the mountain to meet with Ash and co that Luigi realized his huge mistake.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Giovanni asked.

"Sure as the charm on my head," the Meowth on the screen replied. "His clothes changed color, he's got these really weird eyes, and he was flyin' after me. He's some new rare Pokémon, for sure, and he wasn't around before."

"Hmm… Interesting… Follow and observe him, but do not confront him. Once your teammates return from their mission, you may consider confrontation. Keep reporting any timeline differences and the information you gather about that boy."

"Can do, boss!" Meowth hung up.

"I'd almost given up hope on those three," Giovanni said to his Persian. "But, somehow, they keep doing things that surprise me."

* * *

The road to Cerulean City was blocked.

This wasn't unusual in Kanto, but it was usually a Snorlax sleeping in the road that caused such things. Instead of a Snorlax, the way was blocked by fallen trees and rocks.

Several hundred fallen trees and enough rocks to make up a small mountain.

Luigi didn't say anything as Misty yelled at the debris and Brock began planning an alternate path into the city.

After a good night's rest, their efforts to reach Cerulean City were once again impeded. This time, the path they needed to use went over a river.

The river had, of course, flooded over, and the rapids had swept away the bridge and several trees. Misty was not amused, and Brock just plotted an alternate path again.

Predictably, they got lost, and took them a few days to find their way back to the path. In that time, Ash's Metapod evolved into Butterfree, a process that Luigi found fascinating when he saw it.

Once they were finally back on track, Brock's new route led them through a cave. As soon as they entered, several sopping wet trees landed in front of the entrance to the cave, locking them inside. The trees proceeded to knock several rocks on the ceiling loose, forcing them to run to avoid the cascading cave in.

Once they exited the cave, they were both completely lost again and stuck in a ravine. The dangers of the day passed, they camped out for the night once more. In the morning, they left and came across a rock that Ash, Misty, and Brock were very interested in. Brock announced there was a Pokémon Center nearby, and that they should be able to reach Vermilion City the day after tomorrow if they kept up the same pace, just in time for Lance's meeting.

Then he ran off towards the Pokémon Center. When they others caught up, they found Brock flirting with Nurse Joy. Despite the fact that he'd left all of his Pokémon with Forrest, one of Brock's Pokéballs opened.

Croagunk used Poison Jab. It's Super-Effective! Brock fainted.

After they got situated in a room, Luigi was ready to have a good night's sleep in an actual bed. He and Mario could sleep anywhere, but nothing beat a real bed. For most of the night, he slept soundly.

It was only around sunrise when anything happened. A huge surge of energy went through Luigi's bond with Mario, instantly shocking him awake and off of the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came faster! ... I'm not sure that that's going to happen again.
> 
> The Universe makes Luigi's life difficult. In other news, the sky is blue, and things in the air fall towards the ground.
> 
> Oh, and Luigi gets a Pokemon. It's not technically captured in a Pokeball, but, whatever. Clefairy knows Teleport and Rock Smash, and does not know Metronome. I don't know about any of its other moves yet. As this fic is based on the show, TMs and HMs are entirely nonexistant.
> 
> For Mario and Luigi to transform in the Pokemon world, it takes evolution stones. The only reason the Moon Stone wasn't used up is because it's huge.
> 
> Also, Meowth. Team Rocket told their boss about this whole mess, he doesn't actually remember himself.
> 
> ... The last line there is pretty blatantly foreshadowing who the focus of Chapter 10 is, isn't it? That's right... Mario's finally going to show up! None of the next few chapters have Luigi in them. He'll be back in Chapter 13.


	10. The Jump Man

When Mario came to, he couldn't be sure of how much time had passed, or what, exactly, had happened during that time. Everything was just far too confusing.

It took Mario a moment to adjust to his surroundings. He was in a dark room, alone. There was a pink-haired nurse (at least, he assumed by the way she was dressed) lady nearby with a vacant expression on her face fussing with his arm.

"… What are you doing?"

"My master wishes to ensure that you are in perfect health." Her voice was flat, not carrying any emotion to it at all.

 _Hypnotized_ , Mario thought. He looked closer at her eyes – She didn't react at all, just kept inspecting him for injuries. Mario didn't know what her original eye color was, but right now they were grey and blank-looking – Definitely hypnotism.

"No injuries… Follow me." She walked out of the room. Mario hopped to his feet and followed after, on guard for anything that might jump at him out of the shadows.

Although the designs were different than he was used to, and there was a surprising lack of lava, the architecture of this place screamed 'dark, evil castle'. What really struck Mario, though, was how _new_ everything looked. Not a single thing he saw could've been there for more than a week.

How did that work? He'd built a house in a day before, several times (his and Luigi's house tended to break a lot), but a whole castle in a week? He hadn't seen any minions around, apart from the hypnotized nurse. Even Bowser, with his largest castles, usually had a few minions milling about each hallway either doing their jobs or goofing off.

The lack of people around was more than a little disconcerting, if he was honest with himself.

Mario took the time walking through the hallways to consider what to do. He'd definitely need to find some way to break the lady's hypnotism, but after that, he wasn't sure. He could always smash the castle, but that probably best saved for a last resort.

Mario sighed. As usual, he didn't know anything about what was going on. Which was more fun, admittedly, but also tended to be a bit more dangerous. Luigi would definitely be talking his ears off about it if he were here now.

The nurse led him to a room filled with strange machines and left him there. He wasn't the only one in the room, either – There was also an odd blue creature that looked like a cross between an otter and a beaver with clamshells stuck to its legs.

Things just kept getting more interesting… And even more so when the hypnotized nurse locked them in the room and a machine whirred to life.

Mechanical arms shot out of nowhere to grab both Mario and the otter, hoisting them into the air. Mario couldn't see what was happening to the other occupant of the room, but he struggled against the mechanical arms. Whatever these were, they were well-built and persistent – Whenever he broke one, two more took its place. They pulled his hair, got into his mouth…

One tried to stick him with a needle, but it broke against his skin. He laughed at that, until it came back with a sharper needle that managed to draw blood from his left arm. It was at least nice enough to bandage it afterwards.

Finally, the poking and prodding stopped, dropping both Mario and the otter to the ground. Mario recovered first, and quickly ran over to help the otter to its feet.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," He said. "What was that all… I mean, Dewott-osha-dew-chu."

"… What are you doing?" Mario asked, honestly curious. "That's an odd language."

"… Not fooling anybody, that's for sure," the otter mumbled.

Mario shrugged. "Well… Nice to meet you. My name's Mario! Mario Mario."

"Oscar," the otter said. "Oscar… Er, well, I'm a Dewott. And, um, nice to meet you as well."

Mario nodded. "Always a pleasure to meet a new friend… Although not in the best of circumstances, I'll admit."

"Yeah, that wasn't pleasant… What sort of hospital is this?"

"It's an evil castle lair," Mario said. "Given the lack of minions or death traps, I'd say this guy is pretty overconfident, too."

"Like a video game? Oh, no," Oscar said. "I thought I got away from this stuff years ago..."

Mario laughed. "Come on," Mario said. "I'm going to figure out what's going on, get us out of here… Maybe blow up the castle, too, if it seems like a good idea."

"How on Earth would that be a good idea?"

Mario shrugged. "Won't know until we figure it out." Mario kicked the door down, easily shattering the steel lock and hinges.

"What the…" Oscar shook his head. "No, just imagining it… The door must've been weak."

Mario led the Dewott on a long and winding path through the evil castle, with a single goal in mind. Not that Oscar had any idea what that goal was, something he voiced several times as they hiked through the hallways.

Mario commented on the size of the castle, and the fact that it seemed to be on its own island – both dead giveaways for an evil lair, in his experience. This really was just an everyday experience for him, even if it was a new villain and a new lair.

Before long, they came to the very top of the tallest tower, which contained a spiraling slanted corridor leading to a room at the top.

"That'll be the scheming room," Mario said. "You always find this stuff at the top, no matter where you look!"

"… Everything always happens at the top or bottom of a dungeon," Oscar muttered. "That hasn't changed."

Mario was already by the door, and Oscar walked up next to them.

"Someone's already in there…" Mario whispered. "A few people, by the sounds of it."

"They've got Pokémon, too," Oscar said. Mario gave him a confused look, but just let the odd word slide. "What are we going to do?"

Mario opened the door and walked in.

"... Apparently 'the most reckless thing possible'." Oscar followed Mario in, despite his misgivings.

Inside was a small room, covered entirely with computer monitors, drawings, and machinery… Exactly the sort of typical scheming room Mario was used to. True to his word, they weren't alone.

A boy and a girl in their late teens were messing with the computers. Well, mostly the boy, who had lavender hair, while the girl mostly looked angry and like she was about to smash something. Each were accompanied by their own creature – The boy had a floating purple ball with a face, and the girl had a purple snake.

"Ekans? Ekans!" The snake said.

"Huh?" The girl with the improbable magenta hairstyle turned to see Mario.

"Hello," Mario said. "It's me, Mario! I was wondering-"

"Prepare for trouble," The girl shouted as she struck a pose.

"Hm? Oh, and make that double!" The boy said, as he joined in.

"What is this?" Oscar asked.

Mario shushed him. "It's an overly dramatic introduction, don't interrupt," he whispered.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach the stars above!"

"It's Jessie!" The girl yelled, striking a different pose.

"And it's James!" The boy said, twirling around with a blue rose in hand.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Ekans!"

"Koff-Koffing!"

"Team Rocket?" Oscar said. "… I know I've heard that somewhere… Do you always do that when you meet someone? It's kind of weird."

"I've seen weirder," Mario said.

"Shut up!" Jessie said. "We worked hard on that motto! What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Mewtwo brought them here," James supplied. "I'm a bit curious as to the exact circumstances."

"So you know the big bad behind this lair!" Mario said. "You're gathering intel, I take it?"

"Just finished, actually!" James said, holding up a flash drive. It glinted in a non-existent light.

"Shut up, James! It's supposed to be a covert operation!" Jessie yelled.

"He already figured it out, Jess…"

"Right… Well, I'm trying to figure out what's going on, and do something to disrupt this guy's plans… I'm not sure how many other people are here."

"Just Nurse Joy, who's been hypnotized," James said. "Mewtwo hasn't gotten any other actual Pokémon here."

"Just the lady… Good!" Mario said. "We can get her, get out of here, and I can smash the castle. Starting with this computer room!"

"Wait, what?" Jessie returned Ekans without wasting a second.

Mario began spinning like a top and slammed into a wall, knocking it out.

"Let's get out of here!" James said, grabbing Koffing and hot-footing it through the door.

"Right behind you!" Oscar said. "Mario, stop!"

Mario jumped up and kicked several computer monitors through a different wall.

"It's no use, kid," Jessie said, snatching Oscar by the tail and dragging him out.

"OW! Let go!" Oscar yelled. "Let go, let go, I'm older than you and _that hurts_!"

There was a loud crash as the computer room collapsed behind them. More of the hallway began following suit.

"Never mind, I prefer this! Keep running!"

Jessie smirked. "I knew you'd see it my way."

James screamed as rubble collapsed in front of him, blocking off the hallway.

"Well, that's a problem," Jessie said. "Dewott, use Razor Shell." She threw Oscar at the rocks.

He didn't have time to react to the rapidly approaching rubble. By the time he noticed what had happened, Mario had gotten there first, somehow running past him at ridiculous speed and smashing the rubble into dust with a massive iron hammer from nowhere.

The hammer vanished into nothing, and Mario caught Oscar mid-flight. Mario's grip was far gentler than Jessie's and he seemed to have enough sense (or compassion, at least) to not grab him by the tail.

"Sorry about that," Mario said, setting Oscar down. The Pokémon was too shocked to really say anything. "This place isn't as sturdy as I'm used to. I went a little overboard."

"You can say that again," Jessie mumbled.

"Sorry, I went overboard," Mario repeated. Jessie glared at him, and he grinned.

"Well, at least we're all okay!" James said. "That answers some of my questions… and raises half a dozen more."

"That happens a lot," Mario said. "I'll explain everything after you're all safe."

"You're the reason-"

"No, Jess, this mission was already really dangerous." Jessie glared at James. "I'd prefer to have this guy backing us up, even if he is… well… you know."

"Completely insane," Jessie growled. "But, fine! Let's just get out of here!"

"After we get the nurse," Mario said. "You've got a boat or something, right?"

"Submarine, actually," James said.

"Even better… Go get that ready. I'll get the nurse, I think I've got something that can break her hypnotism, and meet you at shore!" He dashed off, out of sight too fast for any of the others to tell where he went.

"I know I didn't imagine _that_ ," Oscar said faintly. "So, would someone please tell me _what just happened_?!"

* * *

 

It didn't take long to find the nurse. She was blankly eating food, ignoring everything around her. Mario shuddered. Hypnotism was always creepy. He pulled a Refreshing Herb out of his inventory and threw it at her. It exploded in a cloud of green dust, and the Nurse blinked in confusion a few times.

Mario grinned. He'd been right – Refreshing Herbs came through again.

"Hey, you alright?" Mario asked. "Feeling fine? I don't know how long you were under, but it can't have been a good time."

"I… Yes, I'll be just fine. You… what are you?" the nurse asked. "Oh, I'm sorry! That… didn't come out right."

"It's fine. I'm Mario!"

"Um… Hi. I'm Nurse Joy."

"… You haven't heard of me?" Mario asked. "… Huh. Been a while since that happened. Anyway, let's get out of here! I've got some friends with a submarine who can help us out."

"Um… How?" Joy asked. "You were in a Pokéball… I'm not even sure how that was possible, but…"

"I don't know what that is or how I got here. Anyway, let's go!" Mario jogged into the hallway, the nurse close behind him.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere on the shore!" Mario said. "I didn't really get much more information than that, but we've got to go."

_'I don't think so.'_

Mario groaned. "The big bad's right behind us, isn't he?" He turned around to see a purple flying cat. "… You're the one who ambushed me in that forest, aren't you?"

 _'I am… You're quite a curious Pokémon.'_ There was that word again. Mario still wasn't sure what it meant. ' _Why do you disguise yourself as human?'_

"Disguise?" Mario laughed. "... Okay, I fell through a time warp again, so things are a bit weird, but I'm not disguised. See, this is a disguise." Mario turned himself into a copy of the cat in front of him, quickly turning back before he lost his balance. "This? Just little _young_ me, ha ha!"

 _'You are very strange,'_ The cat said. _'I was correct to assume you were a subject of interest… Regardless, I can't let you leave and tell others of my plans.'_

"I don't even know anything about your stupid plans… Apart from that I'm going to end them before they really begin. Think fast!" Mario tossed his hammer at the ceiling, collapsing it between them. He rushed over to Nurse Joy and picked her up. "Sorry about this, but we're going to need some speed if we want to be safe!"

Mario dashed off, and Nurse Joy instantly understood why he was carrying her. There was no way she'd be able to move this fast.

Mewtwo appeared in front of them in a flash of light, but Mario reacted faster than he did, using the Genetic Pokémon's head as a springboard and going into another run as soon as he landed.

"How are you doing this?" Nurse Joy asked.

"I promise, I'll explain everything I can," Mario said. "After you're safe!"

Mewtwo blasted open one of the walls in front of them, and it was only Mario's quick feet that let him flip over a rock and kick it towards the Pokémon, not even bothering to see if he hit.

Up ahead, the hallway was quickly coming to a dead end. Mario braced himself, and did a front flip at the last moment, meeting the wall feet-first. Through a combination of speed, strength, and possibly sheer willpower, Mario kicked straight through the wall and hit the ground running.

Finally, he was outside. Mario began to really pour the speed on, hoping to get to the island's shore as quickly as possible. It didn't take him long to find the submarine – A very strange-looking vehicle shaped like a giant red fish.

As Nurse Joy was climbing in, Mario looked back to the castle. It had once been absolutely massive and grand, but the damages he'd caused to get out of there and mess things up had really done a number on it – Not enough to knock it down, but definitely enough to be a setback.

Mario hadn't even managed to get one foot in the hatch when the familiar light of teleportation went off in front of him, and a now-familiar figure faced him.

 _'You're much stronger than I had initially assumed',_ Mewtwo said. ' _You truly are a perfect subject… It is a shame I won't get a chance to study you, as I'd hoped. A clone should do, though.'_

The word 'clone' set off all sorts of alarms in Mario's head, but he pushed them to the side. Right now, he had to make absolutely sure that everyone was safe, regardless of anything else. Mario jumped from the submarine to the shore, getting in a fighting stance.

 _'I am the world's most powerful Pokémon.'_ Mewtwo said, amused. ' _What do you hope to gain by fighting me?'_

"Well, honestly, just a bit of your time," Mario said. "You see, most minions never get any of the evil overlord's time, so it really must be quite valuable. Hey, you guys! Get out of here, I'll catch up."

"That's insane! I've see what he can do firsthand!" Nurse Joy called out.

"Trust me!"

_'Foolish… I'll deal with them-'_

Mewtwo was blasted by a huge jet of flame.

"I'm just getting fired up!" Mario said, as he shot off another Ultra Flame at Mewtwo. He turned back to Team Rocket. "Go! I've got this."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Jessie pulled Nurse Joy under, and slammed the hatch shut. The submarine shot across the surface of the water, leaving the island behind quickly.

 _'I'll return for you later.'_ Mewtwo said. Mario didn't give him a chance. He jumped in the air and grabbed onto Mewtwo's tail, and started punching the Pokémon repeatedly.

 _'Get off, pest!'_ Mewtwo attempted to shake the plumber off, but Mario held fast. ' _Don't you realize this is hopeless?'_

"Nope! I am hope!" Mario said, attempting to throw Mewtwo into the ground. Mewtwo caught himself and used his powers to fling Mario back into his castle.

Mario righted himself in mid-air, looking to hopefully cause a bit more damage to the castle before departing. It wasn't to be, as Mewtwo teleported in front of him and blasted him with an absolutely massive ball of shadows.

It was painful, but Mario held through. When he got up, he was in the center of some sort of arena behind the castle.

Mario was panting – This guy really was strong. Not very creative, but ridiculously tough. He needed just a bit more time to make sure his friends were safe, but he was almost beat.

 _'You've lost.'_ Mewtwo didn't even bother with the teleportation this time, simply floating down in front of Mario and alighting on the ground. ' _Yield, and I may spare your life.'_

Mario grinned. "Nope! I'm a Mario Brother! I'm not about to give up for some eight-bit villain of the week."

_'Still, you insist upon this charade…'_

"Nope, my turn! Take a good look at your castle, because it's about to be gone!" Mario leapt into the air.

' _What are you…_ '

" **Earth Tremor!** " The whole island began to shake violently as Mario slammed into the ground. The castle began falling to rubble, and Mario and Mewtwo were both flung in the air by the vibrations. Mewtwo grabbed them both in his psychic grip.

 _'Is there no end to your surprises?'_ Mewtwo asked. ' _Pity. You're far too much of a nuisance to keep around.'_

Mario was nearly spent, but he still had an ace up his sleeve. "That's where you're wrong…" Mario looked behind him, judging just where the submarine was.

_'Your friends are too far away to help you now. Once I find them, they won't be able to help themselves.'_

Mario smirked. "Wow, you're really terrible at reading the situation. I've got one more magic trick up my sleeves, and it's a doozy!" Mario gathered his energy for one final burst. " **Supernova!** "

The attack took everything he had, but it did exactly what he wanted it to. A massive burst of star power went off just between Mario and Mewtwo, sending the Pokémon careening into the rubble of his still-collapsing castle, burying him under it.

The explosion proved too much for Mario in his exhausted state. He was knocked unconscious instantly, and went flying. He wasn't awake to see it, but he splashed down into the water just where he intended, not fifty feet from the Magikarp Submarine.

He wasn't awake to see a concerned talking Dewott grabbing him and pulling him up before he sank to the watery depths, or Nurse Joy looking over him to make sure he was alright. He didn't see James' worry, or Jessie's feigned indifference.

All that mattered was that he'd managed to get his new friends to safety.

* * *

 

"He's coming to," That was Oscar's voice.

Mario opened his eyes, seeing a sandy beach not far from the grass he lay on, and a peaceful midmorning sky.

"You were out the whole trip," Nurse Joy said, helping Mario to his feet. "We brought you out here to rest on softer ground."

"Thanks," Mario said.

"Alright, enough!" Jessie yelled, pushing Nurse Joy out of the way. "What was that?! Who and what are you, really? Because I'm pretty sure you aren't human!"

"He's not," James said. "He wouldn't have gone in a Pokéball if he was."

"… Why didn't you mention this sooner?!" James was now the target of Jessie's anger instead.

"We had other things going on, Jessie, and I haven't really had a chance to look over the files yet. Come on, calm down, let's just see what he's got to say."

"Fine… Talk, weirdo!"

"I think you could be a bit more grateful to someone who just saved us," Oscar said.

"Shut it, you!" Jessie said. "You think it means something that you talk? You're old news."

"Everybody calm down!" Nurse Joy said authoritatively. "Look, Mario… Start from the beginning, and explain yourself."

Mario nodded. "Have any of you heard of the Mushroom Kingdom?"

A series of negative responses.

"I was afraid of that…" Mario laughed. "Well… I think I've managed to end up in another world entirely. Again. Really, it's getting a bit ridiculous how often this happens."

"You too?" Oscar asked. Mario nodded, while everyone else just looked at the Dewott incredulously. "I'll explain after him."

"… Well… I'm Mario, from the Mushroom Kingdom! A few days ago… Actually, I'm not sure how long it was, but I was fighting Bowser, my arch-rival, _yet again_. He had this weird machine that sent him, my brother, and I through a rift in space and time. Which resulted in me looking like this… Normally I'm twenty-four, not fifteen."

"… How does that work?" James asked, genuinely curious. "Even if you fell through a rift, if you moved through time physically your body should still be the same, right?"

"You'd think so," Mario said. "But, well, when it comes to my life, it's better not to think too much. I come from a weird family, and me and my bro are the weirdest of the bunch. We're superheroes descended from a long line of wizards. I fight to protect people, to keep hope alive even when things are at their bleakest."

"… Are you human?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Well, yeah," Mario said. "A bit of an odd one, but I'm human. Odds are, I'm not the same kind of human, if that makes sense."

"That would explain why the Pokéball worked on you," Nurse Joy said. "I wonder what other sorts of creatures are in your world…"

"Great… A visitor from another world… Not like we haven't seen that before…" Jessie grumbled.

"Actually, Jess, we were the visitors."

"Shut up, James!"

"… Okay."

"… Is that it?" Oscar asked. "… I was kind of expecting more of a story."

"A visitor from another dimension is pretty out there," Nurse Joy said.

"Honestly, it's not much on top of the time- "

Jessie covered James' mouth. "SHUT UP, JAMES!"

"… Time we got into… this… situation," James finished. He looked to Jessie nervously, but she seemed satisfied.

"… I'd ask but you're terrifying and I don't want my tail ripped off," Oscar said.

"Good choice," Jessie said with venom. "What's your story, talking otter?"

"Um…"

"Is he not supposed to talk?" Mario asked.

"… Er… No, not really," Oscar said. "Um… Okay, the truth is, I used to be human. When I was a teenager, I got sucked into a world of only Pokémon to save it." Mario chuckled at this, seems he'd found a kindred spirit. "After I did that, I was actually able to travel back and forth between here and that other world. I was still an Oshawott, though, which kind of made some problems. Last I heard, my parents still think I ran away to be a trainer. That's the story my sister told them."

"That's quite a story," Nurse Joy said. "But, why didn't you tell them?"

“They were angry enough about the fake story… I think the truth would’ve been even worse. It took me a long time to work up the courage to tell them. When I was finally ready, there was a bit of an accident. My son was sent here and I lost the ability to travel between worlds. I know he’s safe, but I don’t know where he is. Just a few days ago, a portal opened up near my home, and I finally got the chance to find out. So, I came through.”

"… How sad," James said. "Oh, Jessie, doesn't it tug at your heartstrings?"

"James, he just said the kid is fine. Pokémon are tough." Jessie rolled her eyes.

"Do you think it has anything to do with…" Jessie glared at him. "Oh. Right. Yes, I'll shut up now."

"Well, these stories are all nice and good, but we've got a very big report to make to the boss. We'll be leaving."

"I've got to get back to the Pokémon Center…" Nurse Joy said. "It's not too far from here."

"I'll go with Oscar, wherever he goes!" Mario volunteered. "You sound like you could use a hand!"

"Thanks," Oscar said. "And, um… I don't actually know how to talk like a Pokémon, so having someone to be my 'trainer' would probably be really helpful!"

"It's settled, then," Mario said. "And to our own ways?"

"To our own ways!" James exclaimed. "I hope we meet again, as friends and not foes!"

He and Jessie hopped into the submarine, and were off without another word.

"They're a strange duo," Joy said. "Well… I'll be off, as well. Take care of yourselves, you two."

"Don't worry," Mario said. "I can handle myself!"

Nurse Joy smiled. "Yes, you certainly can…" She pulled out two red-and-white balls. "Here. These are the Pokéballs Mewtwo captured you in. It's best if you have them with you – As long as a ball registered to you exists, you can't be captured again."

Mario scratched his head. "Well, I don't really understand, but thanks!"

"I'll explain later," Oscar said. "Good luck, Nurse Joy."

Nurse Joy smiled. "The same to you two."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Uh... That's what Jessie and James were doing. They were assigned to investigate New Island, and sent Meowth on his own to do their normal shenanigans.
> 
> ... Humans from Mario's world are creatures of magic, just as humans from the Pokemon world and Pokemon themselves are. But they aren't the same species as humans from the Pokemon world. As far as the Pokeball capturing mechanism is concerned, that makes them Pokemon.
> 
> I feel like Mario should have made a few more stupid jokes and said a few more cheesy lines, but I couldn't think of good places to put them.
> 
> Oscar is supposed to represent the protagonist from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity. I haven't actually played that one, but I do know the story. The hero in this game actually does keep their memories, but their past isn't detailed like the other protagonists have been.
> 
> Next time, we return to the Mushroom Kingdom.


	11. Dawn Over Toad Town

They’d spent close to a week in the Toad Town Tunnels. They’d been able to surface a few times to re-stock on supplies, but never close enough to Toad Town or Evershade Valley. Blue insisted that finding Mario’s house was still their best bet.

This meant that, once again, they were camping out deep underground. They’d managed to find a part of the tunnels Peach had never seen, filled with massive glowing mushrooms and a crystal-studded ceiling that looked like the night sky.

They’d found an alcove that someone – Almost definitely the Mario Brothers – had camped out in before, and set up for the night. Dawn was amazed how something so beautiful could exist so far underground.

 _Something_ happened, and Peach awoke. She couldn’t tell what it was – A fleeting burst of magic, a strange sound… Something had awoken her. She spent a few moments studying the cave to see if she could find the source of her sudden awakening, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

It wasn’t long before she felt it again. This time there was no mistaking it. An overpowering rush of energy flowed through every fiber of her being. The shining crystals on the ceiling began to flicker, the mushrooms glowed far more brightly than they should.

It felt like everything was falling apart, but everything felt right… This power was familiar, someone she knew. Ever so far away, it could only be one person – Mario.

Everyone was awake now (except for Yellow), and the crystals and mushrooms were already fading back to normal.

“Pip-piplup?”

“What was that?” Dawn asked.

“It’s Mario!” Peach said. She grabbed as many sleeping bags as she could and ushered them onwards. “Come on, follow me!”

“Hold on, princess.” Blue was ignored as the princess ran off, Dawn close behind (Piplup fixing her hair as they ran). “… Okay, fine, you’re in charge, no need to listen to me… Wait up!” He dragged his brother by the foot to catch up with the invigorated princess.

A right, a left, doubling back… The shock of energy had reawakened the old paths Mario had tread. She could feel them, follow them. If she was thinking clearly, she’d know that Mario was too far out of reach to find, but the energy was overpowering.

It didn’t take half an hour before they reached an odd room, full of odds and ends and buzzing with magic.

“I know where we are,” Blue said. “We’re below Mario’s house… I’m not sure how far down, though.”

“What is all this stuff?” Dawn asked, picking up a metal rod with a jewel on the end.

“Weird magic junk that Mario’s family has been collecting over the years,” Blue said. “They’ve been around a lot longer than the country, so there’s quite a bit of stuff here. Luigi’s still finding new rooms whenever he gets bored enough to explore. That’s a magic wand. By the looks of it, platinum base, diamond core, and decorated with pearls. Someone really liked throwing their money away. I’d suggest you put it down.”

“… I dunno, a magic wand seems really cool,” Dawn said, swinging it around a few times. Nothing happened. “I can’t really do much on my own.”

“It’s harder than it looks,” Blue warned. “Unless you’ve got some natural talent it can take years to learn. It took over two months of training with Mario for me to figure out how to use power-ups… That’s not really the same sort of magic, but the point stands.”

Dawn shrugged. “It’s better than nothing.”

Blue sighed. “Just be careful with it, alright?”

“No need to worry!”

Peach smiled, but Blue frowned. While Dawn’s optimism was refreshing after Luigi’s general attitude, magic wasn’t simple. Most likely she’d cause problems she had no clue how to fix.

Latias was staring at the ceiling, having taken almost no notice of anything going on since they’d woken up. She crooned sadly, drawing Dawn’s attention.

“Something’s wrong up there,” Dawn said.

“Toad Town’s not far,” Blue said. “But… Wait. Bowser’s goons, of course! We need to get up there.”

* * *

Bowser’s army was there. But, contrary to their normal modus operandi, they weren’t attacking the Mushroom Kingdom’s capital at all. They might have been planning on it, but crisis has a way of bringing enemies together. A wormhole, like the one that had brought Latias here, had opened up over Toad Town.

This one, however, wasn’t spitting out a young legendary Pokémon. This one was twice the size of Peach’s castle and pulling in as much of Toad Town as it could.

“We need to go!” Peach yelled. She pulled out a leaf and held it up, but the only thing that happened was a few sparks of magic playing over the surface. “… Blue, the Super Leaf isn’t working. Why isn’t it working?!”

“What?” Blue said, grabbing the leaf. The leaf glowed faintly as he attempted to use it himself, but it died down and nothing happened. “Oh no… Gadd was right! I didn’t believe him, but… gah!”

“Guys?” Dawn asked. “What’s going on?” She was ignored, Peach and Blue too engrossed in their conversation.

“You knew this could happen?” Peach asked. “… How did Gadd know? A portal that disrupts power-ups?”

“The portal doesn’t have anything to do with it!” Blue said. “Gadd thinks that Mario and Luigi’s energy is what makes power-ups work at all. I didn’t believe him, but clearly he was on to something! Whatever energy they left behind is gone, which means…”

“No one can use power-ups until they’re back,” Peach said. “We need to get down there… Blue, do you think you could rip some of the fence slats out of the ground?”

“What are you planning?” Blue asked, but obliged.

“Luigi once told me he built this fence so it could be used as snowboards in case of emergencies,” Peach said, hopping on top of one of the slats.

“… What sort of emergency…” Blue trailed off. “What made him think this was necessary?”

“When we got invaded by those crazy rabbits from another dimension, the house got buried in an avalanche of ice cream and maple syrup,” Peach said.

Blue was silent for a moment.

“Contemplate the realities of Mario and Luigi’s life later, surf down a rocky cliff to save your hometown now,” Peach said as she kicked off.

“… Right. Dawn, stay safe!” Blue grabbed Yellow, still fast asleep, and kicked off after Peach.

Dawn was alone on the mountain with the Pokémon. Piplup was tugging Dawn’s leg, asking her if they could do anything to help. Latias was completely lost.

“I… Guys, I want to help, but we need a plan… Latias, what moves… Oh, right, the Pokédex!” Dawn scanned Latias. “Safeguard and Psywave… That’s not much, but I think I’ve got an idea. Piplup, I’ll need your help, too!”

Piplup and Latias stood (or floated) at attention.

“Alright, here’s the plan. That thing’s spinning, right? Piplup, when you use Whirlpool, what do you do to make it smaller or bigger after you’ve already made one?”

Piplup’s eyes lit up. “Pip-pip-lup?”

“I don’t know if it’ll work, but we’ve gotta try. There’s lots of people down there. Come on, let’s get going!”

* * *

Peach jumped off of her snowfence, letting it plunge into some bushes as she slowly floated to the ground. Blue arrived moments later, preforming a wall jump as his own fenceboard smashed against a wall. Blue quickly dropped his sleeping brother in the street.

“Hello,” Rosalina said, as she appeared beside them. “Sorry to be short, I’ll be with you in a moment.” She vanished again.

“I’ll never get used to that,” Blue said. “What are we supposed to do about that thing?”

“First, we need to get as many people as we can out of here,” Peach said. “I’m sure Rosalina’s handling some of it, but she’s probably focusing on keeping that thing from getting any bigger! You go talk to Bowser’s troops, see if they can get people to the Koopa Bros’ fortress. The port’s the furthest from the vortex. Yellow, I need you to gather people over there. I’ll get people healed up and send as many as I can to safety. Understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Blue said.

“Got it, Princess!” Yellow, for once, was awake.

“Let’s go!” Peach was off, levitating as much rubble as she could out of the way. She quickly found some injured Toads and healed them up, telling them to get to port.

Rosalina appeared again. “I apologize for earlier, Peach. I take it you have a plan?”

“We’re evacuating the Toads to the port and that old abandoned fortress out east. Blue’s trying to get the Koopa Troop to cooperate, I don’t know how that’s going.”

Rosalina vanished and reappeared ten seconds later. “They’re flying to port now.”

“Thank you,” Peach said. “Can you help get any Toads you find to port?”

Rosalina nodded. “I’ve already evacuated the castle to Lavalava Island… Quite a distance, I know, but it’s safer than here. It’ll be far easier to get them to port while keeping the portal in check. Speaking of…”

She was gone again, and Peach went on helping out injured Toads. After a couple of minutes, Rosalina returned.

“How are things looking?” Peach asked.

“These portals have been appearing all over the planet these past few days. I am unaware of their origins, but I’ve been incredibly busy containing the damage. This one is far too large and powerful to simply dispel.”

“I think Mario has something to do with it,” Peach said, as she levitated a broken house and sent more (thankfully uninjured) Toads on their way.

“Assuredly,” Rosalina said. “This portal certainly has the flavor of his power. I believe he accidentally ripped a hole through time and space itself… It may be difficult to close without his help.”

“That’s going to be hard. He’s gotten himself into another dimension… Is that everyone out?”

Rosalina disappeared for a moment. “Yes, I believe that Yellow and Blue are the only Toads remaining in the town proper. They’ll arrive shortly. If I may ask, what exactly is going on above the castle?”

Peach looked to see a very quick red blur with a familiar blue-haired girl perched atop it, flying in a spiral around the edges of the portal. “Dawn!”

* * *

“Alright, Latias, a few more Safeguards should give us a big enough barrier! Piplup, are you sure you’re ready for the next part?”

“Piip-luurp!”

“Great! I knew I could count on you. Okay, Latias, bring us down right next to the pole on top of the castle.” As they neared it, Piplup jumped off and grabbed on. “Do you have a good grip, Piplup?”

The little penguin nodded, determination in his eyes.

“Great! Hold on, and use Whirlpool! Make sure you’re spinning opposite the portal, okay? Latias, we need to back off and follow the current!”

The Whirlpool attack and the Safeguards worked together just like Dawn had planned – She’d managed to produce a miniature tornado spinning opposite the portal, with Latias’ speed helping to keep the wind even and fast.

“Latias, use Psywave on any uneven bits in the Whirlpool!” Dawn said. “Piplup can’t hold this up forever, and we’ve got to make this count!”

Latias trilled her agreement.

After more of this, Dawn realized something. “It’s not enough… It’s not growing as fast as it was, but we won’t stop it at this rate. Keep it up, you two, I’m going to try something!” She pulled out the wand she swiped, and concentrated on the huge portal. She twirled the wand above her head in the same direction she and Latias were spinning, and the tip glowed with unearthly blue light.

Glowing geometric blue shapes appeared around the edge of the portal, spinning around it. It didn’t reverse the portal’s growth, but with the three of them working together they were able to at least stop it from getting any bigger.

“It’s working! Keep it up, guys, we’re almost there!”

“I believe that’s enough, actually.” A new voice spoke, soft but echoing. The woman that had appeared before dawn in the snow was in front of her again, hovering there and easily keeping pace with Latias. “The portal shouldn’t start growing again if you stop now.”

“I… Okay, Latias, Piplup, let’s stop! To the roof!” The lady was, thankfully, right – When Piplup and Latias stopped, the portal didn’t start pulling everything in or growing larger again. Dawn dropped to the roof, panting from the effort. She’d never have guessed how much magic would take out of someone.

“Providing a counterforce to the portal – clever, yet deceptively simple,” the lady in blue complimented Dawn. “Most would simply throw magic at it to overwhelm it. I, myself, tried to stop it directly with my own abilities… With it stabilized, that would be trivial, but it would have taken me quite some time to get to this point without you. Thank you… Dawn, I believe Peach said? I am Rosalina.”

“Um, yeah,” Dawn said. “And this is Piplup and Latias.”

“Intriguing…” Rosalina studied Latias. “I’ve never seen the likes of her before.”

“That’s not surprising…” Dawn said. “We’re, um… Kind of from another dimension?”

Rosalina nodded. “Yes, that explains a lot… Mario and Luigi… They’ve ended up in your world, and you here.” She looked to the portal hovering in the sky above. “Somewhere through there, I can find them… You can go home… I can end this chaos.”

Yellow came over the edge of the castle, clutching a strange blue block with a propeller on the top in his hands. Blue and Peach were clinging to his legs as he spun.

“Everything’s spinning,” Peach said, stumbling as she landed.

“Hi, space witch!” Yellow toad said, as he sat down and yawned. “You’ll… Fix everything, right…?”

“I’ll certainly try,” Rosalina promised.

“Dawn fixed everything,” Blue said, amazed. “And you got the wand working so easily... How?”

“It just… Felt right,” Dawn said. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Sometimes, that’s just how magic is,” Peach said, having recovered from her bout of dizziness. “The question now is… What do we do from here?”

“Princess, as one of your personal guards and advisors, I’d like to submit my own suggestion.” Blue pulled out the DS, and pressed it into Peach’s hands. “Go after them, and get them back.”

“We can’t, the Professor said that the connection between worlds is too unstable,” Princess Peach said.

“Our world has greatly stabilized these last few days,” Rosalina said. “… I believe that it can recover on its own, but I can feel the instability of the world on the other side even from here. This portal, for the moment, is stable. I need to do work to fix this, and Dawn can’t stay here forever. This is our best chance, and I’d be most honored to have one of my dearest friends beside me.”

“… Alright,” Peach decided after a few moments. “I’m coming. Blue, Yellow… Gather the rest of the brigade together. You five are in charge while I’m gone.”

“Understood, Princess,” Blue saluted.

Yellow half-opened his eyes and gave a thumbs-up.

“I’ll close the portal behind us once we’re there. Dawn, Princess… If there is anything you need, tell me now. We don’t have much time, but I can easily gather whatever we need.”

Peach nodded. “Thank you, Rosalina. There are some supplies in my castle. Blue, Yellow, get going. I’ll see you once this is all over.”

“Wait!” Dawn said, pulling out her Pokédex. “Here. It’s a Pokédex – It can identify Pokémon. If there’s any others around here, that’ll help you find them.”

“But, this is yours…”

Dawn shrugged. “I can just get a new one, or borrow one of Ash’s old ones. He’s got like ten of them. It’s not a big deal, so there’s no need to worry.”

“If you say so.” Blue nodded. “Princess! Don’t forget to call. We’ll do our very best from here. Any orders?”

“… Tell the people that I’m off with the Mario Brothers to try and get power-ups working again, and the portal has something to do with it. That’s not entirely true, and I don’t feel good about lying, but…”

“It’s better if everyone thinks the Mario Brothers know what they’re doing,” Blue said. “Trust me, Princess, I know. I’ve spent more time with them then most… Definitely more time _awake_ ,” Blue looked pointedly at his already-sleeping brother. “Good luck on your journey.”

“Come, Princess, let’s get those supplies.” Rosalina took Peach’s arm, and they vanished.

“Good luck to you, too, Dawn,” Blue said. “And thanks, again. I guess this is goodbye.”

“See you around,” Dawn said.

“Well, not likely, but… See you,” Blue said. He grabbed the Propeller Block and the sleeping Yellow (somehow holding on to both with great skill), and spun down to the castle grounds below, leaving Dawn, Piplup, and Latias alone on the roof.

“I guess we’re going home,” Dawn said. “Do you think everything’s alright?”

Latias trilled again.

“That’s right… There’s something going on. I’ll see soon enough, I guess…” Dawn trailed off. “You guys seemed really worried about that. Oh, I wish Meowth were here… Wow, I never thought I’d say _that_.”

“Piip-lup!” Piplup patted Dawn’s leg reassuringly.

“You’re right, Piplup. No need to worry!” Dawn said brightly. “It’s a new adventure, a new journey! Ash wouldn’t back down, and neither will I!”

Dawn looked to Latias again. “I hope that we’re able to figure out whatever’s had you so worked up… I’ll do my best, no matter what, okay?”

Latias just looked sad, and Dawn once more wondered what on earth was going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Well, Dawn's going home. And Peach and Rosalina will be in the Pokemon world. That should be interesting, right? Sorry this chapter took so long. I got more focused in writing ahead again than on proofreading.
> 
> Mario doesn't usually directly cause disasters, they just tend to follow him and his brother around. Some of the stuff that actually happens is really weird, like when the ocean flooded over or a hole in time closed just because it was inconvenient for the Bros.


	12. Lunar Magic

Lily had never been to Mount Moon before. She’d seen pictures of it, and she knew that Luna had traveled all over the world. Mount Moon didn’t look anything like it had in pictures. From Luna’s reactions, it didn’t look anything like she remembered it, either, so Lily was pretty sure it wasn’t just the predawn light messing with her eyes.

One side of the mountain was marred with a huge scar in the earth. Trees and the ground itself all swept away in a massive landslide.

“The force we’ve been tracking. This is its doing.” Lily had never before heard the wizard so spooked or angry. “It was _here_. It came, and it destroyed everything in its path.” Her eyes narrowed.

“Are you alright?” Lily asked her mentor.

“I never tracked it here,” Lunamia said. “ _It knows we know_ , and it’s been playing us for fools! Mount Moon paid the price, and Stars know what’s next! Right now, its power is gathered in Vermilion City. I can’t be sure if that’s where it really is, or if it’s just playing us again.”

“Hang on,” Lily said. “I’ve got an idea! I’ve been working on a new potion to track people and objects. Maybe it could fool your magic sense, but I should be able to use something touched by this power to track it. If it works, then we’ve got it for sure! If it doesn’t, well, it doesn’t waste that much time.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Luna said. “There’s little better we can do at the moment. What do you need for the potion?”

“I’ve got just about all of it already,” Lily said, getting out her cauldron and ingredients. “I just need a bit of something touched by the power… The stronger, the better. Shouldn’t take much.”

“I’ll trust you know what you’re doing. I’ll see what I find on the mountain. I’ll be back soon.”

Lunamia followed the path of sheer destruction up the side of the mountain. It was a fairly tough climb, but the scattered boulders and trees actually made it easier than when she’d first climbed the mountain at the age of thirty-five. It was harder than hiking up the mountain she’d lived on for over half of her life, but not as much as she was prepared for.

Before too long, she came across a crater filled with collapsed rock, and she knew she’d found what she was looking for. In the center was a huge grey rock pulsing with evolutionary energy… And corrupted with the alien power she’d been chasing.

Lunamia fumed. That vile creature! Corrupting the legendary Moon Stone with its power, destroying half the mountain… It would stop at nothing until this world was nothing but rubble and broken dreams. She took a small glass sphere from her pocket, gesturing with her staff to pull all of the otherworldly power into it. Even just a small remnant of this being’s power was almost too much for the bauble, but she had what she needed.

With the power contained, her marble was glowing with sky blue energy that twinkled like the stars themselves.

She stormed back down her stone steps, never breaking stride nor slowing down. When she reached her apprentice, the young teenager had finished her potion.

Murkrow noticed Luna first, and squawked until his trainer noticed. “Miss Luna!” Lily said. “Did you… Um, what’s wrong?”

“That _thing_ corrupted the Moon Stone,” Luna snarled. She pulled out the marble she’d used earlier, and tossed it to Lily. “I’ve contained the magic there. Find this creature so we can bring it to justice.”

“Um, yes, just a minute.” Lily had never seen Lunamia this angry. She got passionate about magic, and considered herself an ‘ally of justice’ through and through, but she was furious now. Lily dropped the stone in her potion (a pretty blue color, producing small sparks of flames), and watched as a scene took shape.

The magic told her that it was near Vermilion City, just like Luna had said, and that this boy in the image was definitely the one with that power… But it didn’t make any sense. He was just asleep peacefully in a Pokémon Center, his own Bulbasaur and Clefairy in the bed with him. He wasn’t even as old as she was.

“… What’s this?” Lunamia growled. “Is the spell messed up?”

“No,” Lily said. “… It’s that boy. He’s the source of all this. He’s a couple of day’s walk north of Vermilion City. I don’t know how- Wait, look!”

The image shifted. There was another boy, now. New Island. He wore similar clothes to the first one, but they couldn’t see his face. He shot a massive stream of flames from his hands at something they couldn’t see, and took off, blurring the image.

Back to the first boy. He was beginning to stir in his sleep – Something was bothering him.

“He knows we’re watching,” Luna said. “Stop the spell, now!”

“We’ve got to wait for it to wear off,” Lily said. “It’ll only be a minute longer.”

Back to the other boy, using his magic to cause an earthquake.

The first boy began to toss and turn.

The boy in red was held up by a strange Pokémon, and began to glow with a rainbow of colors.

The images began blurring, switching faster and faster.

“It’s unstable!” Luna yelled, grabbing her apprentice and pulling her away from the cauldron.

Everything happened at once.

The sky to the south lit up with the light of a huge amount of magic being released all at once. A shockwave of alien power blasted across the world. Lunamia passed out instantly. Lily, not being nearly as sensitive to magic, was able to just barely stay awake.

Lily’s cauldron exploded. If Murkrow hadn’t thought fast and used Mirror Move, she would surely have been hit by the shrapnel. Her vision became clouded with images.

_She sees the boy in the green cap jumps up in bed, his luminous blue eyes darting around the room. The boy in red is flung over the ocean by the shockwave, splashing down in the water with tremendous force and sinking down._

_A blue-and-white beast flies over Kanto’s skies. The shockwave hits him, and he comes in for a rough landing near a lighthouse._

_A brown-haired woman is visiting an old man in a lab coat. Both are struck by headaches and come up confused and disoriented._

_A purple crystal glows, a white and yellow star-shaped creature tumbling out of it. It seems confused, before appearing to remember something. It closes its eyes, almost as if making a wish, and teleports away._

_A girl and a boy ride a large green Pokémon, accompanied by several other Pokémon. The Charmander on the boy’s shoulder suddenly evolves straight to Charizard, nearly throwing them both off. The girl with the sideways ponytail and Dedenne laughs, saying something offhandedly to the extremely confused and concerned boy. The small green dragon doesn’t seem at all disturbed by this._

_A boy with spiky brown hair and a Blastoise by his side is admiring the sunrise and a massive tree through a window, when an enormous hole is ripped in the space above the tree._

_She sees a cave full of crystalline mirrors. As one, they begin to vibrate. As one, they shatter into so much glittering dust._

_She sees a strange, distorted environment, littered with landscapes that don’t conform to gravity or logic. A massive statue sits in her view, a strange Pokémon that looks vaguely like a nightmarish snake. Suddenly, it comes to life, and is immediately attacked by another Pokémon that looks vaguely like a Blastoise._

They kept coming, harder and harder to hold onto and remember, until the spell finally broke. Lily was relieved for a moment, but it was short-lived as her head felt like it was splitting open.

_A boy comes to help her with a spell. A strange poem, a talking Meowth. The spell goes wrong, the boy is a Pikachu. She tells Luna of her accidental discovery. A journey. Kanto. More potions. Hoenn. More spells. A contest, just for fun. Disqualified. Sinnoh. An evolution, praise, happiness._

Overwhelmed by visions of the present and memories that never happened, Lily fainted.

* * *

If someone were to have asked what Gary Oak thought he’d be doing after winning a small tournament and staying overnight in a castle, it would be a safe bet to assume that what was actually happening was far stranger than whatever his answer would be.

Right now, he was wishing he’d paid more attention to the layout of Cameran Palace when Queen Ilene had offered him a room for the night after he’d won the annual tournament. After over half an hour, he finally managed to make it to the ballroom.

Ilene was already there, holding the same staff she’d presented to him last night. “You’re going to the Tree of Beginning, aren’t you, Aura Guardian?”

“Yeah,” Gary said. “Can’t let Ash have all the fun.”

Despite the situation, she chuckled. “If you say so. Take this – Sir Aaron took it with him when he saved the tree long ago. It may help.”

“Thanks,” Gary said, taking the staff. “Now, I gotta go. Smell ya later!” Gary ran for the exit as quickly as he could, but found the way to his sports car blocked by a teenage girl and a middle-aged lady.

“You missed it, you know.” Gary hadn’t missed the fact that both women were dressed in witch costumes. “The celebration was yesterday.”

“We aren’t here for that. I am Lunamia, master of wizardry and spellwork.”

“Humble…” Gary muttered. Lily heard him, but just shrugged.

Lunamia glared at him. “I need to speak to Lady Ilene about _that_.” Luna pointed to the swirling mass above the Tree of Beginning, which was three times the size it had been earlier.

“She knows about it,” Gary said. “Look, I’m heading there now, so if you really need to get over there, get in the car.”

“You’re ten,” Luna said. “You aren’t old enough to drive.”

“Yeah, no one cares,” Gary said. “Let’s go, before that thing swallows up the tree.”

“It won’t end there,” Luna said. “Fine. Lead the way.”

Five minutes later, Gary was flooring it towards the tree. All the while, the portal grew larger and larger.

“What is that thing, anyway?” Gary asked. Lily was clutching the sides of the car for dear life, clearly not trusting the ten-year-old to drive safely.

“It’s a portal to another world,” Luna said. “If we can’t close it, it could keep growing! I don’t know what would happen to our world, or whatever is on the other side, but it won’t be pretty.”

“Got it,” Gary said. “Just another one of these things.”

“You’d been in this sort of situation before?” Luna was surprised. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been, with how he was handling himself.

“Personally, no. My friend Ash gets himself into jams like this every couple of months, though.”

“Ash?” Lily asked, still holding on for dear life. “With the Pikachu on his head?”

“Yep, that’s the one!” Gary said. “Let me guess. You met him and were attacked by two weirdoes with a talking Meowth. There was a battle and they went flying into the air, yelling something about blasting off again.”

“And then I accidentally turned him into a Pikachu,” Lily said.

Gary laughed. “I wish I’d been there to see that! Even just a photo would be worth a million words!”

Luna looked to her apprentice. “When did this happen?”

“… In about eight months, I guess?” Lily said. “You see… Actually, I don’t really have an explanation.”

“Time travel,” Gary said by way of explanation. “Stuff gets weird. Just sit back, and enjoy the ride.”

“You both are going to explain that later.” Luna looked to Lily. “And I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

“Would you prefer if Alakazam drove? Or Blastoise?” Gary asked. Lily and Luna’s expressions told it all. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

* * *

By the time they had managed to reach the Tree of Beginning, the portal had stopped growing. It was still absolutely enormous, and the tree was looking far worse for wear.

“Right, everybody out,” Gary said. “We’re going to the top. Can you manage it yourself, O Master Wizard?” The way he said it made it very clear he was pronouncing the capital letters.

Luna glared at the rude boy. “Yes, I can. Lily, would you prefer to stay here?”

“I think I would like that, actually,” Lily said, faintly. “Never let him drive again.”

“I’m not that bad,” Gary said, as he pulled out a Pokéball. “Fearow, Go!” The bird Pokémon materialized in a flash of red light, and Gary hopped on its back. “Alright, Fearow. I need to get way up there. You up for it?” Fearow crowed, and shot into the sky.

Lunamia created a magical whirlwind, flinging herself from the bottom of the tree to near the top. Another spell to cushion her fall, and she was up there long before Gary.

“Couldn’t resist a bit of showing off, huh?” Gary asked, as he returned Fearow. “So, how do we deal with this? Got Palkia hiding somewhere?”

“Of course not,” Luna said. “I may be able to channel the magic sustaining the portal into something else. Given enough time, I might be able to muster up enough power to simply dispel it, but that would be a ridiculous energy drain.”

“I get it,” Gary said. “Of course, the portal’s just sustaining itself right now. Providing a small amount of force, magical or physical in nature, should allow us to reverse the reaction and have the portal collapse in on itself. I don’t know much about the mechanics of spacetime manipulation, but Alakazam and Umbreon should be able to provide most of the required force. If we did that while you were weakening it with magic, I think it may just work.”

Luna gaped at him.

“Pfft, did you think I’m just some dumb kid?” Gary asked. “Professor Oak is my gramps. I’m a researcher, too. Of course, before we do anything, we might want to wait until the portal is done spitting things out.”

The last statement was in response to a Latias flying through the portal, carrying someone on her back. Luna stared again. A legendary Pokémon, that had somehow managed to end up on the other side of the portal? What were the odds of that…

“I know that girl…” Gary said, squinting at the figure. “HEY! DAWN! DOWN HERE!”

A few moments later, Latias made a sharp downwards turn and came to a stop in front of Gary. Riding on her back was, indeed, a very familiar blue-haired girl and an airsick penguin. Piplup dropped off of Latias, and started kissing the ground that made up the top of the tree.

“Gary… Wow! I didn’t think I’d see you! Um… You’re shorter than you used to be,” Dawn realized. “How did that happen?”

“Time travel,” Gary said. “I’ll explain later. And I’m sure you’ll explain where you found a Latias. We’ve got to deal with the gaping hole in space you came out of.”

“I’ve got friends following me, they can deal with it,” Dawn assured him. She looked up at the portal. “Um, wow. That thing’s way bigger than it was back at the castle!”

A short scream, as a pink-clad figure fell out of the portal and landed in an undignified heap on the ground next to Dawn. The fairy-tale princess (there really was no other way to describe her) stood up and dusted herself off, pretending that it hadn’t happened.

“Okay, and this is?” Gary asked.

“My name is Peach Toadstool,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr.…”

“Gary Oak,” Gary said. “And this lady is Luna something-or-other. She’s a wizard.”

Peach looked closely at her. “… Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”

“No, certainly not,” Luna said. “I’ve never met you in my life.”

“Alright,” Peach said, but she still sounded skeptical. “There’s one more coming, she’s going to close the portal. I don’t know when she’ll be here.”

“I’ve been here for several minutes, observing your conversation.” The source of the voice was another fairy-tale princess, this one wearing blue and taller than any woman (and most men, for that matter) Gary had ever seen. And, more notably, floating several feet above the ground. “Hello. I am Rosalina.” She lifted what looked like a toy plastic wand, and waved it.

The portal shrunk and vanished into nothingness in five seconds flat.

“… Okay, anyone want to explain that?” Gary asked. “Crazy wizard? Anything?”

Luna was all but paralyzed with fear of this new individual. She was just standing – _floating_ – there, had casually wiped out what had been a massive threat to the world not ten minutes before... To top it all off, her own magical senses betrayed absolutely nothing that suggested this woman or her wand were anything more than a very tall lady and her toy. “Who… _What_ are you?”

Rosalina laughed. “I told you my name. I am Rosalina, traveler and caretaker. Apart from that, the only thing I can say in confidence is that I am quite old despite my appearance.”

“Yeah, that’s helpful…” Gary grumbled. “Okay, fine, we’ll figure it out later. The Tree of Beginning – That’s the living rock we’re on – could be damaged.”

“It’s not bad,” Peach said. “I can fix it, easy. Lead the way, sir.”

“Don’t say that, you’re twice my age,” Gary said irritably. “And… I hate to admit it, but I’ve no idea whatsoever how to get there.”

“The sad thing is, you’d still probably find it faster than Ash,” Dawn said.

“Wow, look at you. I’m proud, Dawn,” Gary said. He closed his eyes in though. “Still doesn’t give us a lead, though.”

_You could ask!_

“Okay, but who would I…” Gary stopped. “Who said that?”

Dawn shrugged. “It sounded like a little kid, but I don’t see him anywhere.”

_I’m hiding!_

Latias called out.

 _Nuh-uh, you’ve gotta guess!_ The voice giggled.

“Hold on,” Gary said. “Mew lives here.”

 _No I don’t!_ A small brown creature, popped out of the ground at Gary’s feet. _See? I’m Diglett!_

“A telepathic Diglett?” Lunamia asked. “Diglett isn’t even a Psychic-type.”

“Neither is Zorua,” Dawn said. Gary looked at her, but she didn’t notice and certainly didn’t offer an explanation.

 _Yep, a totally normal telepathic Diglett! Nothing strange about me, nope!_ ‘Diglett’ said, bobbing up and down.

“You know, you’re really bad at disguising yourself,” Gary said. “We all know you’re Mew.”

“I didn’t,” Peach said. “… What is Mew, exactly?”

 _… Poo._ Diglett glowed, and became a pink floating cat. _You figured it out. So… Um, I’m Mew!_ He made a pink bubble in midair and started bouncing on it. _I was hiding. You guys know Ash!_

“That is ridiculously adorable,” Peach said. “Aren’t you a cutie pie?”

 _I’ve won over her heart already!_ Mew said. _Yay!_

“… Well, that answers one question,” Gary said.

“Who’s Ash?” Lunamia asked.

 _The best Pokémon trainer ever!_ Mew exclaimed.

“He wishes he was, anyway,” Gary said. Mew pouted.

“… So, healing the tree?” Peach asked.

 _It’s fine,_ Mew said. _None of the crystals were cracked or anything, they’re pretty tough. There’s a lot of rock and ground Pokémon in there who can fix everything else up._

“Convenient,” Gary said. “Now, what about this?” He held up Sir Aaron’s staff. “There’s a Lucario in here.”

Mew flew over and poked it. _Boop._ He laughed. The staff began glowing blue, and a bipedal blue jackal was released.

Lunamia was done with this. “I’m leaving. This isn’t going to start making sense anytime soon, and my apprentice and I have work to do.”

“Good luck!” Peach called out, as she went to help the completely disoriented Aura Pokémon.

Luna sighed. When did her life become crazy? She then realized how stupid it was for her to ask that question. “To you, as well!” She yelled back. “Good-bye!” She cast a spell on herself to slow her fall, and leapt from the edge of the Tree of Beginning.

It was only after the middle-aged wizard had left that Lucario was able to stand and began to speak.

 _Where am I? Who are you?_ Lucario asked with his telepathy. He looked around wildly, but his eyes were caked with dirt.

 _Silly-billy, you know me!_ Mew said.

“Hold still, there’s dirt in your eyes,” Peach said. She didn’t have anything she could use to get it out, so she just pulled it away with magic and quickly healed Lucario.

 _Thank you,_ Lucario said, finally able to see once more. _I… Why am I on top of the Tree of Beginning? I was with Sir Aaron…_

“When he ‘betrayed’ you?” Gary asked.

 _He never did._ Lucario looked around. _I ran my aura dry… I perished! How have I returned?_

 _You did,_ Mew said. _But now it never happened!_

“This will be a headache, won’t it?” Gary asked. “Let’s just get back to Cameran Palace, and I’ll try and explain everything.”

 _I’ll teleport us!_ Mew exclaimed. _On second thought… There’s a lot of us. And you’re all waay bigger than me._

“Rosalina?” Peach asked.

“With the damage done to the space-time continuum, I won’t risk transporting anyone but myself,” Rosalina said. “I’ll meet you up ahead.” Without so much as a whisper, flash, or distortion, Rosalina was completely gone.

 _I like her,_ Mew said. _She has secreportations._

“That’s not a word, and it barely resembles one. Well, I suppose we’d better get to the car…” Gary said. He looked to Peach. “Better prepare for the long haul, princess. I’m not the only one with explaining to do.”

“Oh, no, certainly not,” Peach said. “How often do you get visitors from another world?”

“Right. Whatever… Just don’t slow me down, okay?” Gary rode Fearow back down, Peach following in her own standard way.

“… Uh, Latias? Can I have another lift?” Dawn asked.

* * *

It had taken several repeated explanations for Mew to finally understand what was going on.

 _Okay, let me see if I’ve got this,_ he said, flying in front of Latias. _You’re from Alto Mare, and you woke up last week and your brother was back, and neither of you had any clue what was going on. And then a wormhole appeared in your garden and sucked you up._

He flew to Gary next. _Time travel. And you’re… Doing something with it?_

“Just tryin’ to make sure Ash doesn’t mess up too bad,” Gary said. “And mess with him a bit, see how long it takes him to figure it out.”

 _You went to another world,_ Mew said to Dawn and Piplup. _And neither of you had any idea what was going on here?_

“No,” Dawn said. “… But if I’m still, well, my normal age, does that mean there’s another me in Sinnoh?”

Gary paled. He’d been so surprised to see Dawn, he’d completely forgotten that she’d been missing. “Um, call your mother soon,” he said.

“Okay, _that_ sounds like there’s some need to worry,” Dawn said.

Mew ignored this, and flew to Princess Peach. _You’re a fairy-tale princess looking for your prince! Isn’t it usually the other way around?_

“I’m just a princess, and he’s not my prince,” Peach said, exasperated. “Other than that, yes.”

 _And you’re a cool space lady!_ Mew said to Rosalina.

Rosalina chuckled. “Yes, I suppose. I have been called an ‘immortal space witch’ a few times… I am not entirely sure what an accurate descriptor would be, though… Hmm… Perhaps a business card…”

Mew was already to Lucario. _You came back to life!_

 _Yes._ Lucario said. _And you remember my story._

 _Well, I forgot **most** of it… _ Mew admitted. _But there was this biiig fight, and lots of hurting, and then Sirerin-_

 _Sir Aaron,_ Lucario corrected.

_That’s what I said. Sirerin did his magic-_

_Aura!_

_Majora,_ Mew said, and paused. _No, that can’t be right. Sirerin did his allergic and then everything got better and you were in a staff and Ash let you out and you gave the tree medicine and you died but you’re back now._

Lucario stared at the tiny pink legendary, who looked quite pleased with himself. _That’s… Not incorrect._

Mew beamed.

 _It’s still a gross oversimplification._ Lucario said. _It also fails in giving any decent idea of the timescale of these events. And you somehow turned ‘aura’ into ‘allergic’, whatever that means._

Mew pouted again. _I’m not good with times._

Rosalina smiled. “Nor am I, Mew…”

“Alright,” Gary said. “Now that that’s finally done, what are you planning on doing now? You didn’t really think this through, did you?”

“… Well, I’m going to find Mario and Luigi,” Peach said. “Where and how, I don’t know.”

“I’ll accompany her,” Rosalina said.

 _I’m going with cool space lady!_ Mew yelled, flying into Rosalina’s arms. _Teach me your telesecrets, cool lady!_

“I can try,” Rosalina said. “It’ll certainly be nice to have you along.”

“… How do you avoid being seen?” Gary asked Mew. “… Dawn?”

Dawn was quiet. “I’m not sure. I’ll definitely need to call my mom… But Peach and Rosalina, well, I want to help them. And Latias… What’s she supposed to do?”

Latias trilled, coming close to Dawn.

 _She’s gonna come with us! Yay!_ Mew said. He put a paw on his chin. _I think she said that Dawn seems to attract legendaries, which’ll make it a lot easier for her brother to find her. Or the other way around, I guess._

“It comes of travelling with Ash,” Gary said. “… Alright, fine. I’ve got a car, I can drive us around. Not like I had much planned, anyway, and there’s no way you’re going to find and keep up with Ash otherwise.”

“I can teleport,” Rosalina reminded him.

“Yeah, no. Won’t help. He gets lost going down a one-way street with a Pokégear, you need either me, or Team Rocket. I don’t think you want Team Rocket.”

Lucario, the only one who hadn’t said anything, stood up. _I will stay here, with Ilene. Though I know little of this time, it is still my home. I wish you all the best of luck, and thank you all._

“We didn’t do much, really,” Peach said. She smiled. “But good luck, Lucario. Take care of yourself.”

He nodded. _You, too. Though I have my doubts that you will._ He left Gary’s temporary room, off to find Ilene.

Gary laughed. “He’s known us for less than two hours and he already thinks we’re all like Ashy-boy.”

Dawn smiled nervously. “Well… He’s kind of right, you know.”

“I have been known to be danger-prone…” Peach said. “By the way, I’m driving.”

“You too?” Gary asked. “Man, no one ever complained when the fan club was around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of this chapter is a reference to something.
> 
> Rosalina mentions that she's old. Yes. I can say with confidence that she is BY FAR the oldest character who will appear, be mentioned, or alluded to, in this story.
> 
> ... Mew's in this chapter. He's a bit of an oddball, but his heart is definitely in the right place. This isn't the same Mew that Mewtwo was cloned from, and isn't the one that appears in the first movie. That one is much younger and lives near Pallet Town.
> 
> Also, Lucario's here, and everything is immediately solved by Mew.
> 
> The 20th Pokemon movie raises some interesting questions... I'll try not to spoil to much, but it's an alternate timeline, splitting off near the end of the first episode.


	13. Damian and Charmander

When Luigi felt the jolt of energy through his bond with Mario, he almost sent Bulbasaur and Clefairy crashing to the floor. He looked out the window of the Pokémon Center they’d stopped at – The sun had just barely risen over the horizon. No doubt, he was the only one awake.

He focused on the energy. It was fading fast, but the signal was clear. Mario, wherever he was, had gotten into a fight and resorted to his special moves. Luigi gave a sigh of relief. Mario was still far away, but at least Luigi knew he was (somewhat) safe now.

Travelling with Ash, Misty, and Brock over the past few days had been strange. For once, no one was focused on the resident Mario Brother. For once, he could just take it slow, instead of speeding through the countryside.

As usual, his usual luck had made things difficult and dangerous. Thankfully, his companions managed to avoid getting injured, and he managed to avoid any potentially awkward questions about why none of the things that happened to him seemed to hurt him that much.

He got out of bed, careful not to wake either of his companions, and went for a little walk to clear his head. He waved to Nurse Joy’s Chansey (who ran the center at night) as he walked out the door.

It wasn’t long before he came to the rock that his friends had been so interested in yesterday. He didn’t know what or who ‘Charmander’ was, but they’d seemed really concerned about it. Regardless, the rock seemed like a nice place to gather his thoughts, so he jumped onto it and laid back.

He looked to the sky, and allowed his mind to wander. Was everyone doing alright without Mario? His brother stood as an icon of hope, someone who could fight against impossible odds and come out on top. For good reason, too. Fighting Bowser on equal terms was all but impossible for anyone else. Hopefully Bowser wasn’t…

He stopped his train of thought, remembering that gaping hole in the side of the building. How close Bowser had been to them when the portal opened. He smacked himself in the face. What was he doing? Having a relaxed adventure, ‘looking’ for Mario, when an evil tyrant was loose on an unsuspecting world? He’d seen the destruction Bowser could cause by _accident_ , and still lived in fear of what he could do on purpose.

“I’m a complete moron.” He tried to focus and sense where Mario was, but couldn’t get a clear idea – His brother must have been asleep, or unconscious. He sincerely hoped it was the former, even though he knew it really wasn’t likely. He kept trying to find his brother in between bouts of trying to assess the situation, but was interrupted around half an hour later by two people talking.

“- don’t need your advice.” This one was a kid around Ash’s age with purple-gray hair and a harsh voice. “You’re just another trainer who doesn’t look for strength.”

The other boy – This one with wavy blue hair and a pair of sunglasses perched on his forehead – looked at the younger one with a displeased expression. “I was like you once, I know how it is.”

“That just makes you more pathetic,” the younger boy snapped. “I don’t need your advice.”

The older boy glared. “I was pathetic. Just like you are now, and it took losing a friend for me to see that.”

The purple-haired boy ‘hmphed’. “A Pokémon, a friend? I knew you were just as pathetic as the rest of them.” He turned towards Luigi. “And you! I know you’ve been listening in on us. Butt out!”

Luigi backed up a bit. This kid was… intimidating. And it wouldn’t be good for him to lose his temper and punch out a ten-year-old, no matter how much of a jerk he was being.

“Y’know, I think he can help. I could use a second opinion,” The blue-haired boy said, and turned to Luigi. “My name is Damian. This is Paul.”

“Um, I’m Luigi… Luigi Mario.”

“Who cares,” Paul said.

Damian glared at Paul again. “He’s trying to release a Squirtle he caught recently for being ‘pathetic’.”

“Hmph. It is pathetic! It refuses to evolve, and just does its own thing or puts on sunglasses whenever I send it out!”

“Can’t imagine why,” Damian said, with the clear impression that he could imagine exactly why. Paul didn’t seem to notice, and just kept going.

“It’s a delinquent,” Paul growled. “Worse, it’s the leader of a squad of delinquents. Apparently, it ‘had a change of heart’, so it was looking for a good trainer, but it has never listened to a single order I gave it.”

“There’s a key part of that there you’re missing,” Damian said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Paul snapped.

“You see?” Damian asked. “I was like him once. You can’t expect Pokémon to respect you if you keep hammering in that they’re pathetic and unwanted. You’re a step away from leaving them out on a rock in the rain.”

“It’d serve it right,” Paul said. “I’ve no use for a disobedient Pokémon.”

Luigi narrowed his eyes. “You’re giving up. Just because it isn’t _good enough_ , it’s not even worth your time? If you gave it a chance, if you actually tried to be friends…” Luigi was seething now, and stood up on top of the rock. Anger in his eyes, he began to shout. “Then maybe, just maybe, it’ll accomplish something amazing! But you’ll never get there by looking down on it for not being good enough! Do you really think that’s going to help anyone get better, even if it is true? I know better than anyone that it doesn’t work! Maybe it’s best if you do release it, just so it never has to deal with _you_ again!”

“Fine. You want it so much, you take it!” Paul threw a Pokéball at Luigi, clocking him on the head. Luigi fell backwards off the rock.

“You’ll be perfect for each other,” Paul said, already walking into the forest. “It’s just as pathetic as you are.” He didn’t look back.

“Are you alright?” Damian asked Luigi, as he helped him up.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Kid’s got an arm on him, but I’ve been punched by… A Pokémon that hits like a freight train, so this is nothing,” Luigi said, as he brought up Squirtle’s Pokéball.

“Good… I can’t stand him,” Damian said. “He’s everything I could have been, in the worst possible way. You sound like you know how it is, too.”

“… My brother’s the only person who really believes that I can be more than his shadow,” Luigi said.

“Sounds like you’ve had a rough life.”

“Probably,” Luigi admitted. “I think the good outweighs the bad, though. Damian… You said something about Paul being like you. What did you mean?”

Damian laughed mirthlessly. “I left a Pokémon out on a rock in the rain. I promised I’d be back, but I just left it there to die. I didn’t know, or maybe I thought it would tough it out, but in the end, I just didn’t care enough. Someone came along and helped it out, and taught me the lesson I deserved. I didn’t understand it right away, but things are different now. At least, I hope they are.”

Luigi looked down. “… Damian, I’ve put a lot of people in danger over my lifetime, and it wasn’t always by accident. The only thing you can do is do your best to make things right. My brother believes in second chances, and I do my best to. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Damian said. “… It’s the whole reason I came back here. That rock is where it all happened, and that trainer, Ash Ketchum, should be coming around here soon.”

“Ash?” Luigi asked. “That’s a weird coincidence… Story of my life… I’m traveling with him.”

“Oh… Huh. Well, could you let him know I want to talk to him later? I’ll just be out here,” Damian climbed on the rock. “Thanks again, for everything.”

Luigi nodded. “I’ll tell him. Good luck moving forward.”

“You too.”

* * *

Later in the day, Ash walked with Brock, Misty, Pikachu (who was, as usual, riding his shoulder), and Bulbasaur to the rock where he’d first met Charmander. Luigi had stayed in the Pokémon Center, to meditate. Misty had briefly wondered if that meant he was psychic, before deciding it really wasn’t her business.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Ash?” Brock asked. “Damian was kind of… Not the nicest person we’ve made the acquaintance of. He must remember everything that happened between you.”

“He’s actually changed quite a bit,” Misty said. “He comes to me for advice pretty often. I blasted him off the first few times, but I think he’s really trying to be a better person.”

“Pikapi?” Pikachu said to his trainer. “Pika-pikachu?”

“I don’t know,” Ash said. “I remember all the stuff that he did to Charmander, but if he’s really changed… I just don’t know.”

“I understand,” Brock nodded. “That’s what I like about you, Ash. You’re always open to others.”

“Come on, that’s not the only thing you like,” Ash said. “I’m cool in all sorts of ways.”

“You do make a very convincing girl,” Brock teased.

“That’s right,” Misty said. “Boy, we didn’t even notice. By the way, Brock, what was with that Croagunk last night?”

“He’s mine, from Sinnoh,” Brock said. “He must have followed us and caught himself while we were sleeping. I didn’t even know he was around. Anyway, Misty, you didn’t see the other times Ash dressed as a girl. Once he dressed up as a girl I had a crush on to help me out.”

“Only Ash…” Misty said.

“I can’t imagine anyone else doing that,” Brock agreed.

Ash huffed. “You weren’t even there the last time… Pikachu had to dress up, too. He had a heart-shaped piece of paper stuck to his tail.”

Misty laughed. “And what, you called him ‘Pikachu-ette’?”

Ash’s silence said it all. Misty and Brock laughed harder, while Pikachu just ducked into Ash’s neck in embarrassment.

Bulbasaur had absolutely no idea what to make of this, and so just stayed silent.

“I wonder if you’ll have to do that this time…” Misty said. “I’d like to think you’re not stupid enough to insult Erika again.”

“Pika… pichu…”

“Really, Pikachu?” Ash asked. “You too?”

“What did he say?” Misty asked.

“He thinks I’ll probably do it again.” Ash quieted down, a thought coming to mind. “Hey, guys? When do you think we should tell Luigi about… All this? The time travel, how long we’ve been friends… All of it?”

“I honestly thought we were just going to keep it secret from him as long as possible,” Misty said. “No need to get him into our mess.”

“With everything that’s been going on around the world, we’ll have to tell him,” Brock said. “We can’t do much about most people, but Luigi’s right there in the thick of things with us. He deserves to know about the crazy things we get up to, and the strange happenings all over the world.”

“How about this,” Misty said. “We’ll tell him once we’re in Vermillion City. Lance can probably help us explain a lot better, too.”

Brock nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

“I feel bad keeping all this a secret from him,” Ash said. “I know he doesn’t mind, but… Friends tell friends stuff, you know?”

Brock nodded once again. “Who knew we’d have such a conversation now… Ash, Misty, the rock where we met Charmander is just ahead. Are you ready, Ash?”

Ash sighed. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Damian and Charmander were eating lunch together next to the rock when they reached it. Damian turned to Ash. For a moment, he looked shocked, but just laughed nervously and turned back to Charmander. “So, you do remember me,” Damian said.

“… I remember,” Ash said. “What’s this all about?”

“Charmander, this is the trainer I told you about. His name is Ash,” Damian told his Pokémon. “In another time, he took amazing care of you.”

“Char?”

“Ash, when you took Charmander from me, I wondered why he chose you. I watched all of your league matches, hoping to figure out what made you so much better than me. After seeing you in Johto, I finally figured it out.”

Ash sat down, ready to hear Damian out.

“With you, it’s never about you,” Damian said. “If that makes any sense. I don’t know how you do it, but you really seem to know what your Pokémon are saying. I told it everything, but Charmander doesn’t remember any of the things I’ve done. If it did, I’m pretty sure I’d be well done by now. It did that to you enough times, didn’t it?”

Ash actually laughed. “Yeah, I think he’s used Flamethrower on me more than he ever used it in battle.”

“I’m not sure what I expected to happen, but this is definitely a surprise,” Brock whispered to Misty.

“Told you so.”

“Yeah… Charmander, Ash… I’ve seen you on your journey together. How much you’ve grown together.” Damian paused for a moment. “You’re a better trainer than I could ever be, Ash. I want Charmander to go on a journey with you again.”

“Char?” Charmander asked. “… Mander? Charmander…”

“Damian, I’m honored…” Ash looked at the other trainer. Somehow, Ash knew he was being sincere. He wasn’t sure how, exactly, but it was the same feeling he got when he listened to his Pokémon. “… But I don’t think that’s fair to Charmander. Charmander, which one of us do you want to go on a journey with?”

Damian closed his eyes. “I thought you’d do this… It won’t change anything. Charmander, you’ll be great with him. Trust me, I’ve seen it.”

Charmander tugged on Damian’s pants.

“Charmander, even if you don’t remember, you know all the stuff I did to you.” The lizard didn’t budge. “You’re too loyal for your own good. I don’t deserve a second chance from you, Charmander.”

“Sometimes, Pokémon understand trainers better than they understand themselves,” Brock said.

“Damian… You did some pretty bad stuff, it’s true. But, you know, you’ve worked pretty hard to be better,” Ash said. “Charmander knows what you’ve done, and thinks you deserve a chance to prove yourself. As much as I’ll miss him, I agree. Everything I’ve seen today… you’re just doing everything you can to do the best thing for Charmander.”

“If that doesn’t prove you deserve a second chance, nothing will,” Misty added.

“That’s right,” Ash said. “Charmander, if you ever change your mind, I’ll always be happy for a new friend. Damian, Charmander… I wish the both of you good luck.”

 “I… I…” Damian sighed. “Thank you, Ash. Once I’m a Gym Leader… I’d be honored if you would battle me.”

“It’s a promise,” Ash said.

“Also, just to be sure…” Misty pulled a large mallet out of her backpack. “Remember this, in case you ever think of doing anything to Charmander. I’ll find you, and this has your name on it.”

“Trust me, I remember the mallet…” Damian said. “I don’t blame you, after everything. Here, just to be sure…” He took out a scrap of paper, and scribbled something down. “In case you feel like making sure I’m caring for Charmander properly.”

* * *

Luigi had finally been able to locate Mario. Based on a map he’d borrowed from Nurse Joy, and his own bond, he was able to figure out where his brother was. Luckily – and surprisingly – This map was actually readable.

Mario was somewhere on the coast, just east of Pallet Town, and not terribly far from Vermillion City. The very same place he and his new friends were already heading…

He couldn’t very well just leave now, could he? That wouldn’t be right to them.

That was awfully convenient, but Luigi had gotten used to that by now. No matter how far apart they got, they’d always come back together.

Luigi became curious about his new Pokémon, and so threw Squirtle’s Pokéball. A blue creature that looked a lot like a very short Koopa Troopa popped out, put on a triangular pair of sunglasses, and announced his name while striking a pose like he was in an action movie.

“Clefairy?” At least Luigi wasn’t the only one completely bewildered by this turn of events.

“Stars above, it’s a Ninjakoopa,” Luigi said. “What have I gotten into?”

Squirtle tucked into his shell and began breakdancing.

“Maybe…” Luigi trailed off. “Hey, uh, Squirtle? I got you from this Paul guy…”

“Squirt…”

“Yeah, that’s about the impression I got of him. But he said you had friends.” Squirtle nodded. “If you want, I’ll take a detour and bring you back to them. I get the feeling Paul didn’t give you a choice, but I don’t want to drag you into the endless stream of disaster that is my life.”

Squirtle considered his options. The little turtle paced around for a minute, before finally nodding.

“Alright. Well, I’ll have you lead the way. Best of luck to you, Squirtle.”

“Squirtle-squirt.” Luigi couldn’t understand Squirtle, but he had a feeling that he’d wished him luck as well. Futile or not, the sentiment was appreciated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't kill me.
> 
> So, I knew I was going to have to touch on the subject of Damian eventually. As bad as Damian could be, he didn't completely ignore what Ash and Brock were saying to him throughout the episode. He seemed like he could change, given time. And... I wanted to show just how much Ash Ketchum can affect a person. I hinted that Damian had changed before - Back in Chapter 7, Bonnie mentions that he's the leader of the Seafoam Gym.
> 
> Squirtle also remembers, and got the Squirtle Squad to shape up and actually start helping out the town sooner. Because of this, Paul caught him. Squirtle proved to be a bit too spirited and independent and having heard about Paul from Ash's other Pokemon. He also wants to go back to the rest of the Squirtle Squad, instead of going on a journey again.
> 
> While Ash doesn't (and probably won't) make a big deal out of it, he does have some unusual abilities.
> 
> Luigi got a bit more melodramatic than I expected this chapter. Well... Being melodramatic is kind of part of his character? That's an excuse. I guess it works though.
> 
> ... I may have been slightly occupied by Sonic Mania recently. I was always more excited for it than Forces, but it's even better than I expected. But, uh, avoid getting it on PC if possible. It can be a bit of a pain on PC, but is just fine on consoles.


	14. Dragon at the Lighthouse

Ash had been surprised to learn that Squirtle had been with Paul, but once Luigi explained it seemed more as though his improved attitude had led Paul to catch him in the first place. Luigi insisted that they follow Squirtle to release him back to his friends, and they’d done so with little incident.

Ash was sad to see Squirtle go, once again, but glad that he’d be among his friends again.

Without the problems of the Squirtle Squad, the group had managed to reach Bill’s lighthouse later that day, and had taken a rest on the same beach where Ash had caught Krabby. Sadly, the Pokémon didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby. Luigi and his Pokémon were off somewhere on their own, which gave Ash and his friends the opportunity to talk among themselves once again.

“The more we travel with him, the stranger he is,” Misty said. “Ash, do you remember earlier, when I nearly fell off that cliff?”

 “It’s not nice to talk about people behind their backs,” Ash said. “Didn’t he save you, anyway?”

“It was only twenty feet! I would’ve been fine!” Misty snapped. “But, the weird thing is… I’m not sure how he even did it. One moment he was walking with you, two seconds later he was hanging of the edge by one foot and pulling me up.”

“It’s really not that strange,” Brock said. “Ash does stuff like that all the time.”

“Yeah, well, he’s _Ash_ ,” Misty said. “I’ve come to expect it from him, but Luigi doesn’t seem the reckless type. And I’m not even sure how he pulled it off… How many people have that sort of strength and agility?”

“I can think of a couple,” Brock glanced at Ash. “But, honestly, not many. He could just be lucky, or he might be a Pokémon in disguise, or something even weirder knowing how things tend to go around us.”

Pikachu started chattering away, Ash listening to his best friend at full attention. Misty decided just to ask what was on her mind instead. “Pokémon? Does that actually happen, Brock?”

“It’d be a breach of conduct to name any specific individuals, but I’ve seen several in my medical studies,” Brock confirmed. “Zoroark and Zorua are quite prone to it, for a number of reasons.”

“Oh yeah, I met one pretending to be Nurse Joy,” Ash recalled. “Pikachu says Bulbasaur thinks that might be it, and… Something else? Sorry, buddy, I’m not sure what that meant…”

“You think he’s actually a Pokémon, then?” Misty asked.

“I doubt it,” Brock said. “Usually, this happens with one that wants to travel. Luigi barely knows what he’s doing, and just seems lost wherever we go. Latias was trying to hide, but I doubt that’s it either. And I’m pretty sure I can understand what Pokémon are saying better than he does.”

“Latias… Oh, right, I remember!” Misty said. “That’s when Ash-”

“Don’t talk about it,” Brock said. “My heart aches every time I think back to that day.”

“Pikachu, do you understand what they’re going on about?” Ash asked his buddy. Pikachu did, but refused to explain anything to his trainer.

“All of my struggles, and Ash gets a pretty girl to kiss him before I do!” Brock wailed. “I shall never abandon my mission! Until the ends of the Earth, I will-” Croagunk released himself from his Pokéball, and Brock wisely chose that moment to shut up.

Ash was still entirely confused by the conversation, so he just decided to ask a question that actually made sense. “Should we go check on Bill?”

“No, he’s a creep,” Misty said. “Besides, none of the bad stuff that usually happens around us has been happening. Just fallen trees, rockslides, floods, cave-ins... Okay, that’s a bad example, but we haven’t had to stop and help anybody with some bizarre problem yet, and Team Rocket is nowhere to be seen.”

“We did kind of skip Cerulean City,” Ash said. “Didn’t something happen last time?”

“That wasn’t our fault!” Misty said. “The only thing we did there was deal with Team Rocket and my sisters, anyway. We’ve got more important things to do than worry about those idiots.”

“I’m sure they’d be glad to avoid your unique brand of affection,” Brock said. Misty glared at him, which Brock ignored, simply looking at the sky instead. “Anyway, it’s getting dark. Bill would probably let us sleep inside, and think of the food we could have with a proper kitchen.”

“… Alright, you win,” Misty said. “Let’s go meet the green-haired creep again!”

“He seemed pretty nice to me,” Brock said.

Misty rolled her eyes. “You just liked having a real kitchen to use.”

“That’s fair,” Brock admitted.

“Luigi was heading over there, anyway,” Ash said. “He’s probably already inside!”

Brock packed up the few things they had out, and five minutes later they were off for the lighthouse. Misty kept looking out to sea, wondering if they’d catch sight of the giant Dragonite again. Brock’s thoughts were all on what food to make for Bill. Ash, on the other hand, was wondering if Bill would be wearing a different costume than last time. Maybe he’d be Pikachu this time!

Pikachu wanted to sleep, but knew from experience that nothing would come of it. Once they reached the lighthouse, he noticed something interesting about the door, and pointed it out to Ash.

“Huh… You’re right, buddy, that’s weird. Brock, Misty, look at this!” Ash pointed to one of the Pokémon images engraved on the door.

“That’s Mewtwo,” Misty said. “… How does Bill know Mewtwo? He lived in Johto, and I don’t think Bill ever leaves.”

“I really doubt Mewtwo’s the type to just go see people, either,” Brock said.

“Maybe it was the one in Unova,” Ash said. “She seemed nicer.”

“... Why would a Pokémon cross the Pacifid Ocean just to meet Bill?” Brock asked.

“A one-of-a-kind Pokémon, and you meet _another one_ ,” Misty grumbled. “What _doesn’t_ happen to you?”

Seeing that none of the humans were going to get to it anytime soon, Pikachu jumped over and rang the doorbell, kicking off the wall and doing a backflip to lad right back on Ash’s head.

Misty stopped grumbling to look at the mouse in disbelief. “You could just walk!” She hissed. Pikachu stuck out his tongue.

Bill’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Who’s there? Trainers? Come in, come in! I’m in a bit of a pickle here, and could use some assistance. I know what you’re going to ask, but it’s nothing difficult – just an extra pair of hands will do!”

“Um, alright,” Ash said. “We were also wondering if we could stay for the night.”

“Oh… Well, that could be… I don’t know.”

“I can cook for you,” Brock said.

“Yes! My cook is on vacation, I’ve had nothing but tofu and Pokémon food for a week! The doors will be open in a minute, I’m just having trouble reaching the button.”

“Who eats Pokémon food?” Ash asked, as the intercom shut off.

“ _You_ eat Pokémon food,” Brock reminded him.

“That was Pikachu’s idea,” Ash said. “… Most of the time.” Pikachu didn’t defend himself, he knew it was true. The door did finally open after Ash said this, and the three trainers walked in.

Unlike last time, the room was well-lit. It was mostly empty, apart from a Clefairy perched on a desk. Clefairy jumped down from the desk, satisfied with itself, and came over to greet them.

“Hi!” Ash held out his hand in greeting. “How are you? I’m Ash Ketchum, and this is my partner Pikachu! We’re from Pallet Town!”

“Hello!” Clefairy said in Bill’s voice. “I’m Bill!”

“Oh, not again…” Misty muttered.

“That’s certainly an unexpected turn of events,” Brock said.

“Quite the mystery, isn’t it?” Bill asked. “I was attempting to create an advanced costume, to further my research into understanding Pokémon better! You see, when in costume, I feel I can experience what it’s like to be a Pokémon!”

“I think it worked too well,” Misty said.

“Quite right! I’m not entirely sure how, but I’ve managed to become Clefairy!” Bill spun around, showing off every aspect of his Pokémon self. “Look! In every way, I am a Pokémon, yet I’ve managed to retain my ability to speak! Strange, isn’t it?”

“Why would it be?” Ash asked, genuinely curious. “That makes sense.”

“… Oh. None of this is strange or new to you?” Bill asked.

“Sorry,” Brock said. “But we’ve seen this before, more than once.”

“Wait, when was the second time?” Misty asked.

“It’s a long story,” Brock said. “Several legendary Pokémon were involved.”

Pikachu piped up, saying something about stories he’d heard when he was young.

Bill looked at Pikachu. “Even when I’m one myself, I still can’t understand a word they say…”

“Pokémon have a lot of stories about this sort of thing,” Ash explained.

“You understood it!” Bill said. “Amazing! You… Yes, I think you can help me with a problem I’ve been having. You see, there’s this Pokémon that comes over the water – The biggest in the world, I think. The only one of its species… One of a kind! ‘I want to meet you,’ that’s what it said to me! I want to meet it. I want you to help me say, ‘I want to meet you, too. I want to be your friend. Let’s be friends’.” Bill had a faraway expression.

“Okay, he’s a bit odd,” Brock admitted to Misty. “But you’re definitely exaggerating.”

Misty scoffed. “He’s a stalker.”

Neither Bill nor Ash had heard Misty and Brock’s short exchange.

“Um, alright,” Ash said. “… I thought your problem was the Clefairy thing, though.”

Bill stopped and looked down at himself for a moment. “In my excitement, I’d actually forgotten. Yes, I’ve built a machine to restore me to my normal self, but I can’t operate it from the inside. It’s up at the top – Nowhere else gets enough power. Come, follow me!” Bill ran for the stairs, but soon ran into trouble as he wasn’t the right size for them. Ash ended up helping him up.

* * *

 

“The stars are different,” Luigi said, looking to the sky. “The moon is so much smaller in the sky. Nothing here is anything like it is back home.”

He was sitting on top of a lighthouse he found, just looking to the sky and talking to his Pokémon.

“Clefairy… I’m very far away from home. I don’t really know how I got here, or how I’m going to get back. I need to get to Vermilion City. That’s where my brother is, and without him, I’m… I need to find him.”

Clefairy patted Luigi’s leg, saying something. Luigi still hadn’t figured out the language, but he got the sense that it was reassuring him.

“Thanks… Bulbasaur, thanks for sticking with me, even though you don’t really know me so well.”

Bulbasaur nodded.

“My brother’s not the only one out there, though.” Luigi looked down, his eyes dark. “ _Bowser_.”

Bulbasaur was the first to speak up. Luigi didn’t need to translate to know what he was being asked.

“Bowser is my brother’s greatest enemy. Mine too, in a way, but Mario’s the one he hates.” Luigi took a deep breath. “Bowser is… Bowser is _dangerous_. More dangerous than anything you’ve ever seen. In just moments, he can reduce a mountain to rubble or a forest to ash. When his strength isn’t enough, he uses powerful magic. He can crush an army without breaking a sweat. Gods fall before him.”

Clefairy was shaking in fear. Bulbasaur was hiding it better, but was still disturbed.

“... His ambition for conquest started a few years ago. He came to Mushroom Castle, and demanded that the princess marry him. When she refused, he turned every last one of her subjects to stone. In just five seconds, he’d won. No one had even had a chance to stand up to him… no one, except for me and my brother.”

Luigi was lost in his memories, now. At the time, everything he’d ever known had just been uprooted, and no one else could do anything about it. It had been absolutely terrifying.

“Through some stroke of luck, we threw off his spell. We took the fight to him. Working together, we were just able to defeat him. With the princess, we could restore the Mushroom Kingdom. But that wasn’t the end of it. No matter what we did, we could never truly defeat Bowser. We can only hope he gives up before he destroys the world.”

Luigi closed his eyes. “Do you see what I’ve been saying? You’re my friends. If any of you see him, don’t fight! _Run_! I can’t have anything happening to you guys…”

Clefairy pulled itself close to Luigi. Bulbasaur was concerned, and moved closer to his trainer.

“I know, it’s scary. I’m scared, too… Get in here, both of you.” Luigi pulled them close to himself, holding them in a hug. “Whatever happens, I’ll do my very best to protect you. You’re my friends. If you want to leave, if things get too tough… Just go. My life is terrifying, exhausting, and _hard_. I’d never force it on anyone else.”

One by one, they fell asleep while looking at the stars.

* * *

 

Unknown to Luigi, not all of his story had gone unheard. Ash, Pikachu, Brock, Misty, and Bill had all reached the top of the lighthouse and heard Luigi talking. They hadn’t caught all of it, but they’d heard enough.

Bill was the first to talk. “Who was that? And why is he on my roof?”

“That’s our friend, Luigi,” Brock said. “I don’t know why, or how, he got up there…”

“Did you hear what he was talking about?” Misty asked. “This Bowser guy… Well, I guess we know why he doesn’t say anything about himself, at least.”

“We’ve gotta do something to help him,” Ash said. “We can’t just let him deal with this on his own.”

“Were you even listening?” Misty snapped. “To hear him say it, this ‘Bowser’ could probably fight a Legendary! Lots of them, all at once, _by himself_ , and _WIN_!”

“Ash, I understand where you’re coming from,” Brock said. “We’ll find some way to help. Your mom would kill me if I let you fight something like that… Not that it’s stopped you yet… We need to find some other way we can help him.”

“Yeah, okay…” Ash said.

Bill was bewildered. “You’re doing this? But you heard him… You’re just a child. Why?”

“Because he’s a friend,” Ash said. “Maybe he’s a new friend, but that doesn’t change anything. Friends help friends. Human or Pokémon, if one of my friends needs help, then there’s only one thing to do.”

“I’m starting to understand why Professor Oak thinks so highly of you,” Bill said. “You’re truly incredible. Would you… say that we are friends?”

“Sure,” Ash said. Bill looked ecstatic.

“Well, then, friend… Why not get me back to normal, and then we can sit down to a nice dinner.”

“Sounds good to me,” Brock said. “I’ll go down and get started.”

“Excellent!” Bill said. He walked over to a machine, which of course looked like a teleporter from a sci-fi show. “Now, this is the machine I built. The controls are simple – Just press the blue button to control the door, and the red one to activate it. See you in a minute!” He hopped in, and Ash followed his instructions.

Soon, Bill was back to normal, green hair, strange smile, and all. He examined his arm. “Yes, it worked perfectly! Come along, children, let’s see how your chef friend is doing in the kitchen.” He ran down the stairs, leaving Ash, Misty, and Pikachu alone.

“You really mean what you said, didn’t you?” Misty asked.

“Of course,” Ash said. “He’s a friend.”

“Well… Then I’m in,” Misty said. “ _Someone_ needs to make sure you don’t get yourself killed.”

“Pika!” Pikachu protested, placing one paw on his chest. “Pikachu!”

“ _You_ are nearly as bad,” Misty said. “Come on, you two. Last one there is a rotten egg!” Misty ran after Bill, laughing all the way.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Ash and Pikachu gave chase after her.

On the roof, Luigi slept, unaware of how much his friends now knew.

* * *

 

With a new dawn, came a new call to Professor Oak. Luigi had never come down from the top of the lighthouse, but Ash and his friends used Bill’s phone to call the Professor anyway.

After some pleasantries, the professor asked about the mysterious boy in green.

“There were some problems with his registration,” Professor Oak explained. “I’ve finally got time to deal with it. In short, though, I don’t think he’s been entirely truthful about where he’s from.”

“I agree,” Brock said. “I think he’s hiding from something, or someone, dangerous. We accidentally overheard him talking to his Pokémon last night.”

“… He certainly seemed lost and confused that first day,” Professor Oak said. “… If you’re really concerned, would you tell me what you heard?”

Brock, Misty, Ash, and even Bill took turns relaying what they’d heard. Professor Oak asked questions here and there, but in the end was troubled.

“That shouldn’t be possible…” Professor Oak said. “No Pokémon can do anything like what you described… Yveltal can petrify others, as I’m sure you remember, Ash, but not with that sort of scope or reckless abandon…”

“Hold on, Professor,” Brock said. “I thought you didn’t remember…”

“Oh, that’s right!” Professor Oak said. “I meant to bring it up, but… This really was most troubling… Early yesterday morning, Delia was visiting me. She was concerned about Ash, and was insisting that I call you. Both of us came down with splitting headaches at the same time, memories of everything that transpired rushing back. Did anything unusual happen to you yesterday morning, Bill? Or you three?”

“Well, I was working on the Kabuto costume I told you about,” Bill said. “And then I transformed into a Clefairy. A strange Pokémon also crashed outside, which I managed to push into my bed.”

“What Pokémon?” Ash asked. Brock and Misty shushed him, even though they were both curious as well.

Professor Oak sighed, and held his head. “And you didn’t call me to tell me about either of these things… Or check on the Pokémon?”

“Well, I didn’t want to bother you,” Bill said. “I did check up on it, though. It showed signs of exhaustion, stress, and sleep deprivation, but it wasn’t badly injured. It looks like it’s built for high speeds, so it probably just fell asleep while flying.”

“What did it look like?” Ash asked.

“It was big and blue, with a red triangle on its chest,” Bill said. “Smooth, glassy feathers. It looked like a cross between a dragon and a jet plane.”

“That’s Latios!” Ash realized. “He’s a legendary Pokémon… But, why would he be here?”

“Bill, I think you should let Ash talk to Latios,” Professor Oak said. “They probably know each other.”

“… Yes, I think that would be fine,” Bill said. “The room’s just back there.”

“Alright…” Ash said. “Come on, Pikachu, I’m gonna need you with me.”

“PI!” Trainer and Pokémon left to go talk to the sleeping Legendary.

“... Now, Bill… What’s this about being transformed into a Pokémon?” Professor Oak asked. “That seems like something to call about!”

“Well, Ash didn’t,” Misty said.

“To be fair, we didn’t get to a Pokémon Center until after he changed back,” Brock said. “… Sorry anyway, Professor.”

“It’s fine, for you three,” Professor Oak said, a contrast to his demeanor talking to Bill. “Nothing seems unusual when it happens to Ash or his friends.”

“… That puts my life in perspective in a way I’m not quite comfortable with,” Misty said.

“You’ll get used to it,” Brock assured her.

* * *

 

Ash and Pikachu entered Bill’s bedroom. It wasn’t much – Just a bed and a messy desk, a few odd drawings taped over the walls.

Latios was snoozing on the bed, just as Bill had said.

“It’s the same one from Alto Mare,” Ash said, recognizing the Pokémon.

“(What’s he doing here, though?)” Pikachu asked. “(I’ll go say hi.)” The mouse jumped from Ash’s shoulder straight to the bed, and started prodding Latios’ shoulder. The Eon Pokémon began to stir, and whacked Pikachu off the bed when he saw him.

“(What was that for?!)” Pikachu did a backflip and landed gracefully on two feet.

“(Wait, you’re Pikachu…)” Latios realized. The Pokémon levitated off the bed, and moved over to Ash. “(Sorry for hitting you, I thought you were that stupid Fearow… I’ve been looking everywhere for you two!)”

“(You’ve been looking for _us_?)” Pikachu asked, jumping back to Ash’s shoulder.

“For us?” Ash was surprised. “But… Why?”

“(… That’s not quite true…)” Latios said. “(I’ve been looking for… LATIAS! Where is she? You know where she is, don’t you! What did you do with my sister?)”

Ash stepped backwards, not anticipating his anger at all. “Calm down! I dunno what’s going on, but… Is everything okay?”

“(Hey! Calm down!)” Pikachu shocked Latios (Ash was also caught in it, but as usual didn’t notice). “(We don’t know. Why would we know?)”

“(She had a crush on your trainer,)” Latios said. “(With me coming back to life somehow, things have been crazy… When she vanished, I thought she ran off to find you. I’ve been searching for a week, I haven’t even slept… I barely event stopped to eat… I was wrong, wasn’t I? You don’t know any more than I do.)” Latios’ head drooped.

“(No, we haven’t seen Latias… Have we, Ash?)” Pikachu asked.

“Latias? Oh… I’m starting to get it, I think…” Ash said. “… I’m sorry, Latios, but we haven’t seen her anywhere. We could help you look, though! I’ll never turn down a friend in need.”

“(… All right. On one condition, though…)” Latios got a look in his eye, and Pikachu had a feeling he knew what was coming next. “(I challenge you to a battle!)” His stomach growled. “(… After we eat.)”

“(He’s hungry,)” Pikachu said. “(Then he wants a battle.)”

“That sounds like a plan!” Ash agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the reviews, I've seen the assumption made that Bowser is a small-time comic relief villain who isn't too bright. While Luigi's assessment of Bowser might not be completely accurate (he's kind of prone to freaking out over things), he is right in saying that Bowser is a dangerous foe who can face almost anything.
> 
> I've never been sure what to think of Bill. Or what, exactly, he's researching. Anyway, he turns into a Clefairy here, like his game self. Just as in the show, he puts important buttons on the exterior of things he goes inside.
> 
> ... Seriously, what's up with Bill? In the games, he created the PC system, which makes him important. In the show, it doesn't exist, so... What does he even do?
> 
> Also, I would like to note that Super Mario Odyssey is incredible.


	15. Ash Catches a Pokémon

The midmorning sun shone down on the grassy hill that held Bill’s lighthouse. Ash stood with Pikachu on his shoulder. Latios floated across the way. Misty and Brock were still inside, talking to Professor Oak on the phone.

“Alright! Pikachu might be at full strength, but we’re ready!” Ash exclaimed, flipping his hat around. “Pikachu, I choose you!”

“(I’ve been wanting a battle!)” Pikachu yelled, jumping down to face Latios.

“(I’m not going to go easy on you,)” Latios warned.

“(I expect nothing less!)” Pikachu grinned.

“Alright, bud, let’s do this! Remember, he’s a Dragon and Psychic type. Latios, you get the first move!”

Latios contemplated his options, and realized that he didn’t really know any moves apart from Safeguard. Ramming stuff tended to work, and Pikachu generally weren’t all that powerful, so that would probably work just fine.

Ash didn’t need to say anything – Pikachu used Quick Attack to dash under Latios and jump onto his back.

“Alright, Pikachu! Thunderbolt!” Ash yelled, punching the air. Latios tried to shake Pikachu, but the mouse held tight, and shocked him the moment he let up for a moment. Even though Latios resisted the attack, it hurt. He’d been shocked by a Raichu in the garden once, and that hadn’t been anywhere near this powerful.

“(That stings!)” Latios said, rolling over in the air to try and shake the rodent. “(What have you been eating?)”

“(Everything Ash does!)” Pikachu said unhelpfully, still clinging to the dragon’s back.

“(Get off!)” Latios began spinning, faster and faster to try and fling Pikachu off. The mouse held fast.

“Pikachu, Volt Tackle!” Ash yelled.

Pikachu let go, the momentum from Latios’ spin sending him high into the air. Latios breathed a sigh of relief, until what looked like a yellow comet came streaking down out of the sky towards him.

Latios scrambled to get out of the way.

“Use Iron Tail!”

In the middle of his Volt Tackle, Pikachu started spinning, his tail glowing white. He was able to barely clip Latios’ wing with the attack, and landed back on the ground in front of Ash.

Latios shot off out of reach, to consider his options once more. This wasn’t just any Pikachu – This one was talented, strong, and had honed his skills. Latios flew around, waiting to see if there was any opening where he could attack Pikachu.

“That’s how we’re playing, huh?” Ash asked. “Pikachu, Quick Attack to build up some speed!”

“(Got it!)” Pikachu began running, faster and faster until he was a blur. Latios was still out of reach, but he couldn’t help but wonder what those two were planning.

“Alright, buddy, I want Electro Ball! Lots of Electro Ball!” Ash said.

Latios remembered what that move did. Pikachu, still running, sent a massive ball of electricity at him. Latios dodged, and used Safeguard. Another Electro Ball hit him, winding him, but he’d been able to weather the attack.

He shot off again, using Safeguard again to hopefully gain an edge. He rolled out of the way of another Electro Ball, only to find yet another straight in his path. He took the attack, stumbling in midair, but soon took a sharp turn upwards, even further away from Ash and Pikachu. He couldn’t even hear the trainer anymore, and Pikachu was just a little yellow dot darting around in the grass.

Latios used Safeguard a few more times, and risked dipping down. He faintly heard the cry of “Thunderbolt!”, and had to quickly roll to the side to avoid a lightning bolt from _above_. He had absolutely no idea how Pikachu had managed to do that.

Latios retreated again, flying near the lighthouse… Pikachu was no pushover, that was for sure, and Ash’s commands didn’t always make it entirely clear what the two were planning.

“Pikachu, use Quick Attack!” Ash yelled. Latios couldn’t see how that could possibly be any help now, he was a good twenty feet above the top of the lighthouse.

Pikachu ran up the side of the lighthouse to jump off of the roof. He had forgotten that that space was occupied, though, and accidentally ended up bouncing off of a green hat instead. With a yelp, Luigi fell off the lighthouse and crashed into the ocean far below. Amazingly, all of his Pokémon remained peacefully asleep atop the lighthouse.

Pikachu flew into Latios before he realized what was going on. Now, Latios was reeling, and Pikachu was coming from above.

“Let’s finish this up, buddy!” Ash yelled. “Volt Tail!”

With his confusion over the command, Latios wasn’t able to move out of the way in time. Pikachu, completely enveloped in electricity, smacked him down with Iron Tail, sending him careening towards the ground. Moments after his landing, the mouse smacked into him with Volt Tackle.

When the dust cleared, he saw Pikachu standing about ten feet away from him, panting.

“(Done… yet?)” The mouse asked.

It occurred to Latios that every single bit of damage Pikachu had accrued throughout the fight had been self-inflicted, and the mouse was still probably in better shape than he was.

… He wasn’t exactly _good_ at battling, but that was just ridiculous.

“(… Yeah,)” Latios said. “(You’re… really strong.)”

Pikachu smiled. “(Not really… I just know what I’m doing.)” He walked over to the dragon, holding his paw out. “(I’m beat… Gotta work back up… Good match, though!)”

Latios held his claw out, shaking with the much smaller Pokémon. “(I kind of sucked, actually…)” He said, as he began levitating again.

“(You’re strong and fast,)” Pikachu said. “(That’s a good start! You just need more experience.)”

“Hey!” Ash called out, running to the two Pokémon. “That was great! You really need some work, though, Latios… Ramming’s good and all, but some real moves would work a lot better. You weren’t really thinking much about where Pikachu would go or what he would do, either, especially at the end there.”

“(I know…)” Latios said, as Pikachu clambered back to Ash’s shoulder.

“Hey, if you want…”

A soaked-through Luigi walked up the path next to them. He glared at Pikachu.

“(Um…)” Pikachu said.

Luigi spun on the spot, spraying water over everything within twenty feet so that Ash, Pikachu, and Latios were soaked instead of him. “Don’t knock me into the ocean.”

“Sorry about that,” Ash said, and turned back to Latios. Luigi walked off to do who-knows-what.

“Anyway, Latios… If you want, I could help train you. If we’re going to be travelling together anyway, we might as well do other stuff too, right?”

Latios was unsure. On one hand, he really did need training. On the other hand, getting captured might not be a good idea.

Ash picked up on Latios’ thoughts. “If you don’t want the Pokéball, or want to stay out of it, that’s fine. Pikachu never goes in his. It’ll be safer if you at least have one, though…”

Did he trust Ash? After all, this was the same kid that had stolen his sister’s heart… But, thinking back to the first time he’d met him, everything the boy had done was to help two Pokémon he’d only just met, for no other reason than they needed help. Latias certainly had been fast to trust him… He decided to heed her judgement, and nodded. “(You can catch me, but I’ll stay out.)”

“(Just like me,)” Pikachu said.

“All right, then… Glad to have you around, Latios.” Ash got an empty Pokéball out of his pocket. “Pokéball, go!”

* * *

Directly after they left Bill’s lighthouse, before the researcher had even gone back inside, Luigi remarked that he was surprised nothing had broken while he was there. The top of the lighthouse promptly broke off from the rest and fell into the ocean, the massive splash of water somehow coming down on Luigi and leaving everyone else, including Clefairy, completely dry.

Luigi was not amused, although he wasn’t particularly surprised, either.

“That’ll be costly,” Bill said. “… Ah, well, I was planning on redoing the roof anyway! Don’t worry about it, children.”

Once they were on the road again, Brock hung back with the green-hatted boy to bring up the question of what Luigi had been talking about. He hadn’t recognized the word Luigi said in response, but from the tone he got the distinct feeling that it wasn’t appropriate for polite company.

“How much did you hear?” Luigi asked.

“Just something about someone named Bowser… Is he an evil magician, or something?” Brock asked.

Luigi’s eyes widened in surprise. “You know about magic?”

“Yeah, we met a magician a while back. She accidentally turned Ash into a Pikachu. It didn’t last long.”

“Accidental spells never do,” Luigi said. “… Okay, yes, Bowser’s an evil magician. Among other things… Look, he’s dangerous, so you need to stay out of it!”

Brock held up his hands. “Okay, well… I just wanted to let you know that we heard you, and that we’ll help you in any way we can.”

“You can help me by _staying safe_ ,” Luigi stressed.

“And what about you?” Brock asked.

“I’ve been doing stuff like this my _entire life_ ,” Luigi said. “ _I_ can’t avoid danger, but I’ll do everything I can to make sure no one else has to deal with it.”

“I see,” Brock said. Though their attitudes might be different, Luigi’s philosophy on dangerous situations was remarkably similar to Ash’s. “Can I ask why you were on top of the lighthouse?”

“… I feel comfortable when I’m high above the ground,” Luigi said. “I’ve had a pretty weird, stressful week. I’ve never just not known where my brother is, or what he’s doing. Mario’s always there for me.”

“You’re close, then.”

“He’s almost the only family I’ve really got,” Luigi said. “My father stays in touch, but’s always busy, and my mother disappeared when I was just a few weeks old.”

Brock placed a hand on Luigi’s shoulder. “I understand. Both of my parents ran off, and I had to take care of my brothers and sisters. Eventually, we all made up, but I know how it is.”

“Well, like I said, Papa’s still around sometimes. I never found out what happened to my mother, Papa just said that she got in over her head. Apparently, Mario takes after her, so I can definitely see that happening…”

“Reckless, charges into danger heedless of the consequences, tries to take on far more than he can handle?” Brock asked. He’d heard Luigi describe his brother a bit before, and had a basic idea about him, but hadn’t wanted to pry. “That sounds familiar…” Brock stole a glance at Ash, who in Brock’s short absence had started arguing with Misty again.

“More or less…” Luigi said. “Apart from being more than he can handle. That’s kind of rare, and I’m always there to help when it happens.”

“Well, I don’t know you well, but I don’t think you’re all that different from us,” Brock said. “If you want to talk, then I’m ready to listen.”

“Thanks,” Luigi said, giving Brock a smile. “I didn’t realize that anyone would know about this stuff…”

“Magic, or…?” Brock asked. “Well, things kind of happen to us. Most people don’t know about the stuff we’ve seen and dealt with.”

“Gotcha…” Luigi said. “… Where I’m from, everybody knows about magic and stuff. Mostly in passing.”

“Alright,” Brock said. “I’ll have to ask you about it later.”

“… Maybe,” Luigi said.  “Honestly, I don’t know much about it. My mother was a really strong wizard, but…”

“I understand,” Brock said. “If you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

“I just don’t know much,” Luigi said. “I’d be happy to teach you some of what I know.”

“Well… Maybe later. It’s always nice to learn something new.”

“I guess it is… By the way, were you aware that something large and invisible has been following Ash?”

“That’s Latios,” Brock said. “He’s a Legendary Pokémon that wanted to travel with us. How did you figure out he was here?”

“He distorts light a little bit,” Luigi said. “I’m kind of used to spotting ghosts, and that’s one of their favorite tricks. Just another thing I had to learn to stay safe. Relatively safe, anyway.”

 “… Speaking of staying safe, we should probably figure out a better disguise for Latios,” Brock said. “Hey, I’m going to go catch up with the rest. Are you fine by yourself?”

“Clefairy’s still here,” Luigi said, lifting his hat to show the little pink Pokémon.

Brock chuckled. “He is, isn’t he? Alright, then. Talk to you later.” Brock jogged forward to catch up with Ash and Misty.

“Hey, Brock,” Misty said. “Ash and I were having a… discussion, definitely not an argument, about which of Eevee’s evolutions looks coolest. You agree with me, right? Vaporeon?”

“What did Ash say?”

“Leafeon...” Misty grumbled. “You should’ve known he’d pick the Grass-type.”

“Pikachu says Jolteon, Bulbasaur says it doesn’t matter, and Latios said… Umbreon, I think?” Pikachu nodded, confirming that Ash had relayed them all correctly.

“Personally, I like Flareon, but they’re all great in their own ways,” Brock said. “Anyway, I was coming to ask about what we’re going to do about Latios when we get to the city. If he’s just invisible, someone is bound to bump into him and notice, he’s not really small.”

Latios trilled, not having considered that.

“Anyway, I know Latias could use illusions, just like Zorua and Zoroark,” Brock said. “So, Latios should be able to do it, too! If Latios looked like a human, or even a different Pokémon, then it’d be way easier. No one would notice him.”

Latios said something, and Pikachu relayed the message to Ash.

“Latias was always better at it, but Latios could try,” Ash said. “Um… Well, now we’ve just got to figure out a disguise. Looking like one of us won’t work, and the only other person he’s really seen was Bill…”

“Why not just mix up some of our features?” Misty said. “Like… Ash, but with Luigi’s hair and different colors and clothes, and mixing up facial features and structure? That should work, right?”

Latios affirmed that that was possible, and set out trying to make it work. Which did slow progress down some, as he kept switching between floating and having legs (which he really wasn’t used to).

* * *

 

Luigi watched Latios’ attempts with interest.

“He’s a shapeshifter,” the younger Mario brother said. “That’s really cool… I’ve seen a few shapeshifters before.”

Clefairy voiced a question.

“Oh… Well, there’s these creatures called Duplighosts, back where I come from. They can turn into people, and even mimic their voices and abilities, to an extent. My brother Mario’s a shapeshifter, too… I think.”

Clefairy asked another question, pointing to Luigi.

“Me…?” Luigi asked. “… No. I guess it’s just another thing he can do that I can’t.”

Clefairy did a few air punches, which Luigi took as another question.

“Mario’s tried fighting while transformed,” Luigi said, hoping he’d guessed the question correctly. “He says it’s not worth the trouble.”

Clefairy nodded in understanding, and started chattering away, pointing to Luigi several times.

“… Are you asking about what I can do?” Luigi guessed.

“Clef!” The little pink Pokémon confirmed, nodding and grinning.

“Um, well, I’m a good jumper. I can do a little magic. Really, there’s not a lot that you haven’t seen before,” Luigi said. “If I use my powers, it’d be _really_ obvious that I’m not normal, and… I kind of want to just keep it up for a while.” Regardless of how bad a job he’d been doing at that, it was still appealing.

Slowly, Clefairy nodded. Luigi wasn’t sure if it ( _he_ , that’s what Brock had said) really understood why Luigi was doing this, but he was grateful all the same.

Luigi looked ahead – Latios had finally managed to settle on a disguise, which put him at about Ash’s height. Luigi was amused to note that he had blue hair, and the color scheme of his clothes was very clearly inspired by his normal colors.

Then again, no one would really be looking, anyway, which was the best way to hide. It dawned on Luigi that that was probably why he hadn’t been found out yet. No one here knew what ‘Mario Brother’ really meant, so no one expected him to be anything but a kid in a hat.

In the distance over the trees, Luigi could see a sprawling city. It wouldn’t be much longer before they finally arrived in Vermilion City. The city where Mario was, somewhere. The city Ash, Misty, and Brock had all been travelling to.

His friends were all ahead of him, talking to each other and having a good time. Brock seemed to find Latios’ disguise funny, and Misty was trying to pretend she didn’t, while Ash was cheering at Latios’ success. Bulbasaur was just there, making sure nothing went wrong. Luigi was left alone, with Clefairy under his hat.

He couldn’t help but wonder if this city would mark the end of their journey together. If it did, he wasn’t quite sure he was ready for that.

He looked to the little pink Pokémon he had with him.

... He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t just leave…

Luigi wished, once again, that Mario were here. He’d know exactly how to fix everything and make everyone happy. He always did, in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... It's a chapter! I don't have much to say about this one. Soon, Mario and Luigi will be reunited... And eventually, we'll finally find out what Bowser's been up to all this time. I finally got Splatoon 2 a few days ago! ... Playing it was kind of tough until I unlocked a roller, which was the weapon type I used the most in the first game. Then things got better.


End file.
